Accidents Happen
by Mademoiselle Anime Amour
Summary: Potential couples usually meet at normal places like the supermarket or the mall or even on the street. He met her at a hospital. As the patient. Demyx/Aerith.
1. The Accident

**A/N: OK, this may or may not continue on as a story. I'm not sure yet. To be perfectly honest here, I want somer reviews for this fic to help me decide if it isn't asking for too much. Anyway, this is a bit of humor, bit of fluff if you squint. I think you guys will enjoy this. Not to mention it's quirky. XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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**Accidents Happen**

It's been raining a lot here lately. I mean, it's all it really does any more. The weather guy says it's going to pour for the next few days. Sooner or later, I'll need a boat rather than a car to get around. When it rains, though, I never mind. If anything, it's a good change from sunny weather, not to mention I like it streaming down my windows. I like watching all those puddles form in the streets while cars drive through them—that's always the best part. I also tend to write songs while it's raining. You have no idea how great the inspiration is, especially if it's on weekends. Honestly, I can't write songs during the workweek. Believe it or not, I'm not just another unemployed aspiring musician. No, unfortunately, I work. Boy, do I work...at an insurance agency office.

Not exactly the dream job I pictured for myself when I was in high school. Try rocking out to ten thousand people at some stadium. Like Madison Square Garden or something big-time like that. Ironic thing is, that's what I had to go by during the boring (except senior year) high school years: dreams. Heck, I wanted to go to college as much as my single mom wanted me to. My little sis Namine was helping me with my college applications and everything. Then, I found out the cost of tuition. In a word, it was _massive. _I couldn't afford to go, and state aid can only get you so far. It sucked that I couldn't go, not because I was dirt poor but because I wasn't rich. See what I mean?

So, like any struggling musician, there was a phase in which I hated the establishment, total anarchist. Stupid state couldn't help me go to Julliard or NYU or Columbia—I freaking hated The Man, OK? I, Demyx Vincent Picardi, wouldn't settle for anything less than being a musician for a while. Turns out that I did have to settle, and I'm only a musician three nights a week at the café a block away from my apartment. I wish I could say the tips pay better than my lousy job being secretary (psst, don't tell anyone!) fiddling with fax machines, but it's vice versa. At least the job pays well enough to perfectly get me by without me living on food stamps or Medicaid. It makes me feel good that I can live on my own. I just wish I had had that college education Mom told me I could get. Guess that's just one more far away dream.

I'm recovering from this broken arm I got the other day, a rainy Sunday afternoon as a matter of fact. Luckily, it's the left one and not the one I play guitar with. Then again, I still need that left arm anyway. Crap. Well, the boss advised that I should relax for a few days on medical leave, and I was more than grateful for that. I mean, secretaries are pretty replaceable. The people over at the agency aren't going to freak out if I'm not there. Hm, future career aspirations then: McDonald's, 7-11, or Wal-Mart. That holy trinity of minimum wage, and they're probably all I can hope for, too. As I sit back on my reliable old armchair, channel surfing, I remember the day I broke my arm. Hmph, and it was on a day I was trying to treat myself.

Yeah, I was going to go to the mall to stock up on decent threads in case, I don't know, I happened to meet some pretty girl. Ever since freshman year, it seemed that all of my attempts to charm the ladies failed. Come on, though, I was plenty attractive. Right? I even had the whole musician thing going for me, a thing I thought was supposed to turn chicks on. Back then, I played guitar really well for the first time, my voice had successfully deepened from puberty. Wow, wonder why they weren't all over me. Oh yeah...I was shy, dang it. Speaking from experience, you don't exactly attract the opposite sex when you're shy for some weird reason.

Anyway, before I get off topic here, I was ready to get on the bus, which is only the finest in city transportation. And it's cheaper than buying a car. It's too bad that I already have to worry over money on that type of level at my age. Oh well, it's just the way it goes. I dropped my two quarters through the coin slot, watching the rain splatter on the windows. Ugh, the weather was definitely blech that afternoon, had been earlier that morning, too. Good thing I was going to the mall then, to hang out in a nice, dry place. Heck, along with clothes, I would probably buy some sushi to eat for a snack. Mmm...spicy tuna roll, here I come. Until then, I would have to wait ten minutes while riding this (I admit it) smelly bus before I could do anything worthwhile. I picked out a window seat that had no one else sitting there and just chilled for a bit.

I guess maybe I did like to watch the rain, though sometimes I took it in small doses like everybody else. It poured, so that's probably why I didn't like it that day. But, since it was just me sitting back and relaxing in this seat, I watched the splattering and the splashing. Those little drops can make so much noise, I swear. As I see it, rain is nature's music, which would probably earn me some weird glances if I told people. Once you think about it, though, rain has music's most fundamental elements that give it a unique sound all its own. It has a melody and a bit of a rhythm to it, some non-traditional music notes, and _voila_. Besides, not every song needs singing, not all the time. I mean, I'm a vocalist too, but I love my guitar so much.

Thinking about music always puts me in a good mood, and that Sunday was no exception. I was kind of humming a little before I took a look around. And I gotta say this: there tends to be pretty bizarre people on the bus. There was an old lady with pink hair who seemed to be studying bingo cards. Must be preparing for the next big game down at the bingo hall, I thought with a smile. I wasn't laughing at her, though, just trying to imagine myself in her situation. It's an artist thing. Or I have ADD, not sure which. Then, there was this guy drinking from a suspicious looking bag. Three guesses about what the contents of that paper bag held, ha! Before I looked back outside again, I saw two teenage guys jamming to an iPod, being idiots by fist pumping by the way.

I remember when I used to do that on buses with my best buddy Axel, and people were giving us the strangest stares. Now, here I was, doing the same thing to these morons. It made me feel old, like I was going to turn (ugh!) thirty in a couple days. Actually, I'm almost twenty-two, but that's still gonna suck, no? Even though there were weird people on the bus (at least they didn't smell like it), nothing really happened en route to the mall. Resting my head against the sort of comfortable seat, I drummed my fingers on the window ledge. Mm, I had this Motion City Soundtrack song playing on repeat in my head. It was so good, one of their earlier songs called "The Future Freaks Me Out." Heh, it sure does. Before I knew it, I saw the mall building a few feet away when the bus stopped. I grinned like an idiot.

I was definitely going to Pac Sun first, then Gamestop, then the food court, Hot Topic, the food court again...Hm, but I wouldn't spend my life savings in one day. So, K, fine—Pac Sun, food court, and _then _I would go. It wouldn't be that much of a trip, but hey, it was a nice break for me. I deserved it, not to mention I needed it. As a rebel back in middle school, I used to think they invented the mall for the mindless popular kids who craved instant gratification. Then you get there, and you realize it has so much more to offer you than Abercrombie. It's a pantheon of stores that you can pick from. You name it, the mall has it. I couldn't resist it after a while.

So, I was more than ready to take a look around, browse, and most of all, have fun! I'm in my early twenties, the prime of life. I couldn't waste all of my days staring blankly at the fax machine and answering phone calls. Unfortunately, I think I was too eager to get off the bus. See, I managed to squeeze my way past the two kids who were no longer fist pumping. But, the steps were kind of slick from the heavy rain. So, uh, wet steps plus fast movements equals...

Falling down. And not just falling down, since that's never the Demyx way of doing things. I tumbled down the steps, onto the sidewalk, and sprawled out as my head made contact with the sidewalk. I noticed the old lady was toddling down the steps, taking out her cell as she did so.

"Young man!" she yelled...too freaking loud. "Are you all right?"

I think I said something in response—pretty sure I did—but I said something real bright like, "Wha? Wha do ya mean? I'm fiiine."

Then, I got all dizzy and light-headed, seeing things I usually never saw during the day. Maybe when I slept at night, but I doubt I did when I was awake on a normal day. But, yeah...I saw stars along with musical notes. And, if I was seeing straight, maybe I saw Jimi Hendrix's ghost for a second. He was my idol after all. But, no, I was crazy dizzy to the point I was hallucinating dead rock stars who'd burned out like shooting stars. While I heard the old lady screeching into her cellphone (possibly), I passed out.

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OK, just to set the record straight, I've always hated hospitals. I mean, nobody likes them anyway, though I don't know for sure about the people who work there. As for me, I think I'm beyond average in terms of fear. Try terror. Ever since Namine got her first shot, which I unluckily, I hated both hospitals and needles. Rock stars get tattoos all the time, I know. I won't be one of them, that's for sure. Hm, maybe I've always despised needles. Don't know, don't care. All I know is that hospitals suck, all right? I didn't expect to meet anyone interesting there when I came to. Unless I could count an insane person hovering over me, threatening me with a possibly overdue tetanus shot. If I had known I would be spending Sunday afternoon in a hospital, I wouldn't have read Stephen King.

Ironic, how I picked up a book of his earlier that morning. I had assumed I would finish it when I got back. Looked like that wasn't happening any time soon. Sighing out of frustration that my plans were ruined, I leaned back against the pillows. Stupid, stiff, uncomfortable hospital "pillows." They might as well be made of steel. Well, on the bright side, at least they hadn't stuck IVs on my arms or anything. Those things are the worst. Oooh, _Wheel of Fortune _was on that TV over there...

She walked in right then—I didn't know what to call her other than _she_, with a tone of reverence like that. I think she could have easily been the prettiest girl I'd ever seen in my life. I was stunned.

I'd like to think I'm not a shallow guy, but I just could not stop staring at her as she walked over toward my crappy hospital bed. I swore that some random wind blew about her somewhat curly brown hair, the light beaming in her green eyes like the sun. She was extremely beautiful in a soft, innocent way. I could have been wrong, though. She could have been someone who spat tobacco or partied hard every night. For now, I liked what I saw, my awesome first impression of this...her...Oh God, how did I flirt? I hadn't tried flirting with a chick in ages.

She soon knelt in front of my bed, adjusting something on my forehead that must have been a bandage. Holy crap, I'd been bleeding? Hmph, could have fooled me.

"How are you doing?" she asked with a gentle smile that made my heart go crazy.

I grinned what I hoped was a sexy grin. "Even better now that you're here, beautiful."

Ugh, see by what I meant when I mentioned how I failed charming the ladies in high school? That was a horrible line, and that pretty nurse or nurse's assistant or whatever who could make green scrubs look good knew that. She kind of drew back from me. Should I have said that line in a British accent? I'm thrilled that you're here, love? That's what I should have said with a British accent and a subtle smile _not a grin_!

"Sorry," I laughed weakly. "But, you really are...uh...beautiful."

She pretended she didn't hear me. "Well, you're lucky that old woman on the bus called 9-1-1. You had a mild concussion, just enough for you to pass out, but it could have been serious. But, we did a CAT scan on you, and you seem to be OK."

I understood why she wanted to be more practical and business-like at that moment, I really did. My heart sank from my lowered self-esteem. I thought for sure that maybe she could like me.

I smiled in a half-hearted kind of way. "How hard did I hit the sidewalk?"

"Hard enough for you to bleed a little. But, luckily, you have a thick head."

"I'm thick all right, stupid enough to actually hit on you."

I was surprised to hear her laugh, which was a nice bell sound. "I've heard worse."

"So, pick-up lines aside, would you mind if I asked you what your name is?"

As a male secretary working at an insurance agency office (how I hate it there, too), I knew where to draw the line. I didn't want to cross that line to the point I would officially scare her off. People can sue over the stupidest things any more. Not like I thought she would sue me.

Though she was definitely not one to scare off, judging by her smile. "I'm Aerith."

I held out my hand. "Demyx."

"I already know."

"Oh. Yeah. Right, heh-heh. You're a nurse."

Pulling up a chair next to my bed, she sat down in it, ready for a full-fledged conversation. Yeesh, I didn't believe I would have ever made it that far with a girl I was attracted to.

Playing with a strand of her hair, she pointed out, "I'm not a nurse, not yet anyway. In two months, I'll be one."

Maybe I shouldn't have been attracted to Aerith this instantly, been so amazed to the point of wanting to get to know her. She could have a tall, athletic, six-foot-two boyfriend who could easily beat me up. I mean, I'm not short for a dude but still...five foot ten isn't that impressive in my opinion. A girl that brilliantly pretty could not possibly be single, especially with those bright eyes, soft lips...No way, no, I would not be drawn to her lips already. I would be tough on myself in case she really did have a tough-as-nails boyfriend.

"Wow...At least your job is worthwhile. You get to help people."

"Why, what's your job?"

"Insurance agency office...uh...secretary."

I got the typical reaction by receiving a smile, almost a laugh, from Aerith when I told her about my so-called job. Heck, it is pretty laughable, but it's not like it had been my life goal. Suddenly, randomly, I wondered what Mom and Namine were thinking right now, hoping they weren't worrying too much. If they knew I was talking, really talking, with a female soon-to-be nurse, they'd probably think I was ill. Whole lack of flirting and all that.

I shrugged at her. "Hey, I'm not gonna be a secretary forever. I actually want to be a musician once I get the chance. For now, I play three nights a week at a café."

Her eyes sparkled with interest. "Where at?"

"Flaming Hearts Café downtown. Obviously, more of an intimate setting, which I really like."

She nodded at me, treating me less like a patient and more like a friend or potential boyfriend, I hoped. I'm telling you, it was the musician vibe.

"I might have to stop by there some time. Do they have good coffee?"

I grinned. "The best I ever drank."

"And your music?"

"Eh, well, since it's a café, something of the Dave Matthews Band variety. Though if I was at a stadium, in a band or something, it would be something way heavier."

"Oh...That's very eclectic."

"That's my music taste for you."

For some strange reason, I sat up in bed again (though, I gotta admit, I was still dizzy from my klutzy fall) to take her hand in mine. Aerith didn't object to this or to me. That was a pretty nice feeling. It wasn't every day when I got to talk to someone who seemed nice and sweet enough. Basically, I liked her a lot already. Didn't know why—or I probably did, since it was so obvious. Aerith was a likeable girl.

"I don't have a boyfriend," she murmured, interlocking her fingers with mine. "If that was what you were thinking. I broke up with him a year ago."

"That sucks."

She smiled wryly. "Well, I did catch him cheating on me."

That sucked even worse than solely breaking up to me. I wasn't one of those guys who would cheat just because he got tired of a girl, and I wouldn't start either. I had to comfort Namine one time when some idiot (censored version of what I actually called him later) cheated on her. Then, I went to his house to punch him in the face. Needless to say, he didn't date another girl for a while after that.

"So," I said, looking at her intently.

"So..."

I took out a piece of paper with lyrics and a pen to write my cellphone number on the back of it.

Usually, I constantly carry paper around with me in case the inspiration strikes me, as cheesy as that sounds. But hey, I'd been inspired a lot.

"Here's my number. No Facebook, since I think they're stupid."

She giggled before writing her number on my hand. "Here's mine. So are you asking me out, Demyx?"

I flashed her a less fake grin. "Maybe, if you want to."

"I'd love to."

What a way to pick up girls for me, at a hospital that had that overly clean smell, the needles, and the stupid pillows. This visit, though, I had met a nurse there, the best, prettiest, and nicest nurse I had ever seen in my life.

Now, as I listen to my iPod (since I gave up on finding anything half-decent on TV), I like recalling that memorable trip to the hospital. Oh, I forgot to explain the broken arm. Well, I slipped on the way out of the hospital, fell down a few stairs. I knew I should have taken the elevator. At least Aerith voluntarily fixed me up one more time before I finally signed myself out. No injuries on the way back. I hope she does want to meet up with me someplace instead of the hospital, because that's getting old already. Once a klutz, always a klutz, I guess. I'm listening to a good song while the first words to my own song are on my mind. "Angel by Aerosmith—it reminds me of her. It's a good song to listen to while I jot down my lyrics.

And I think my cellphone's vibrating in my pocket. She's calling me. I grin like a moron.

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**A/N: OK, I'm proud to say that I've mastered the ability in leaving possible openings for a potential story here without leaving big, gaping holes. Yay! Anyway, I hoped you liked the randomness of this fic. Who knew that there were guy secretaries in the work force? To say the least. I mean, basically, the fic speaks for itself.**

**Let me know if you want me to add chapters to this or not. I could easily turn this into a full-fledged story, I just hadn't thought of it at the time I first wrote this.**


	2. Nerves

**A/N: God, about time I updated this thing, huh? XD Well, here it is. A random conversation that includes Clay Aiken, chili, and high school memories for the most part. Enjoy. XD**

**Disclaimer: I have no rights to KH.**

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**Chapter 2: Nerves**

"And we set up the date during our conversation! Man, Axel, I never thought I'd have time to date or be able to. I'm so stoked for this!" I ranted to my best friend from my hometown a couple later. That call I mentioned had been Aerith, who actually wanted to go out on a date with me. I mean, duh, of course she'd call me for that reason—I just couldn't wrap my mind around it. Was she drawn to me like I had been instantly drawn to her at the hospital? It was the musician vibe, thank God for the musician vibe and my natural talent! Another part of me was unsure if this could be for real or not. I hoped so. Anyway, since I was so overjoyed about this good news, I had decided to call up Axel to tell him. Unfortunately, he felt this need to keep me grounded.

"Dude, it's great you're going on a date with this chick—how hot is she by the way?"

A dazed smile was on my face as I leaned back against the couch to stare out the window. The beams of sunlight managed to come in through the window, which made this early fall day look kind of pretty. Just thinking about how angelic Aerith was brought a smile to my face. It was irresistible, and there was no way I could stop it.

"She's gorgeous, probably the prettiest girl I ever met," I said in a dreamy sort of tone, nearly falling head over heels for her all over again.

Something told me that Axel rolled his cat-like green eyes on the other end. Well, the thing of it was that my best friend happened to be a well-known, self-proclaimed ladies' man. Things hadn't changed much since our high school years with Axel. Honestly, he could chat up girls and get their phone numbers within two minutes, because that's how he operated. He owed it to his "natural charisma." I blamed it on his cologne.

"Anyway," Axel continued (after breathing out a huffy sigh), "You shouldn't be so serious with this chick yet. You're twenty-one, man—the prime of life! You can go out to clubs, pick up as many chicks as you want, and enjoy NYC life."

I rolled my eyes. "That's what you would do, dude."

Axel was secretly jealous of me that I had set off for New York to try making my way as a musician, not to mention get a job. Those were the irresponsible things he wanted to do. He enjoyed his liquor, yes, and chatting up the ladies. It was a good thing he never overdid it, or I would have started getting concerned over him.

There was a crunching sound on the other end, in the mean time, which made me wonder if I needed to recharge my cellphone battery.

"You still there?"

"'Course I am," Axel drawled. "I'm just eating some Cool Ranch Doritos with chili."

Laughing, I shook my head. "Are you trying to kill yourself? You might be spending time in the bathroom."

My good buddy laughed in response, and we kept on laughing together for a while, enjoying our conversation. It made me remember how much I missed him, my other friends, and my family. Somehow, that crappy small town where I used to live seemed pretty appealing right now. My arm was healing, but I still had time off work. And Axel was probably doing all the eating in his mom's kitchen. He went to the community college, though he often said he hated it. Maybe we should have switched places. Aerith was the only reason I wouldn't act on it. I couldn't wait until that Wednesday night, when we would get together.

"So, Music Man, what songs do you have in your head about her?"

Ah, that was something we always talked about whenever I had a crush on a girl in high school. Axel had set me up on a couple dates during those years, but I never really had anything in common with those girls. Nonetheless, I could correlate a song with them. Because I was just that much of a romantic sap.

I said what was off the top of my head. "'My Heart Will Go On'."

"Oh God, you gotta be kidding me! Celine Dion? That is, like, the ultimate song of commitment. Oh well, what else do ya got?"

"Um...Well, uh, 'This is the Night' by Clay Aiken."

"NOOOOOOO!"

Personally, I had nothing against Clay Aiken, and yes, a couple of his songs were on my iPod. I can be in touch with my sensitive side, since I have the best excuse ever. I'm a musician who needs to be constantly inspired on a regular basis.

"Axel, are you choking on your Doritos yet?"

"No, but I was pretty close to spilling my bowl of Axel-made chili. Thanks a lot."

Even though he couldn't see me, I stuck my tongue out. "Well, sorry. How is your homemade chili by the way?"

"Hm, I haven't died from it yet, so I must be pretty well-off."

Typical Axel reply, I thought with a grin. What he said always verged on sarcasm.

While we had talked, I noticed, we tended to switch subjects and get off-topic quite a bit. But, that was how we tended to be around each other. In a span of ten minutes, we could have easily talked about everything there was to discuss. Not to mention Axel had ADHD, ever since he was a hyper kid in kindergarten. If it hadn't been for his excessive energy, we probably would have never become the best friends we were today.

Meantime, just thinking about chili made me hungry. "You're not that bad a cook, dude, not compared to the toxic waste Roxas manages to turn out."

Axel let out a stream of laughter. "Ah, yeah, he could probably screw up toast."

Roxas was the other guy in our group during high school, and together, we made a heck of a trio. He was the quiet yet sarcastic one, Axel was the constantly rejected flirt with horrible pick-up lines, and I was the musician who hit and missed with people. We weren't all that popular, but we didn't care about that like any other clique—well, except the popular kids, of course. Anyway, we all took a cooking class together junior year, and after he made the runniest omelet ever, we never let Roxas touch ingredients again. Axel and I were often picked as favorites because of our awesome skills. Maybe I should have pursued a cooking career instead in college. Then again, stupid tuition prices...

"Hm, and I would have made French toast easy in my non-existent dorm," I sighed.

"Yeah, maybe you could make Julia Child jealous. I mean, you can rock at whatever you cook."

Too bad I would have to rely on other people to cook the food Wednesday night. Hm, I could have impressed Aerith with my skills by picking out a particularly difficult recipe to make. It could have been the Italian in me, but I could whip up a mean ratatouille and other European dishes. Not to mention I could cook a rad cheeseburger and anything else I could think of. Mom had me in the kitchen as soon as I could be trusted with a fork—in other words, when I was nine.

"Are you spacing out on me, Dem?"

"Huh?" Oh yeah, I was still on the phone. "Yeah, yeah, guess I was. Hm...uh, Axel, I was just thinking about this upcoming date with Aerith again. I'm actually kinda nervous."

"No, no, no, no. Don't chicken out—this one could be a keeper if you play your cards right."

Hmph, I wasn't sure whether that was supposed to be comforting or not. Coming from Axe, it was more of a half-hearted attempt at calming me down. But, telling me not to chicken out is normally reverse psychology for me. It was what I was bound to do, hello! I hated these nerves with a passion, though they would probably be here for a while. As embarrassing as this was, I hadn't even had my first kiss with a girl yet. That was because I would never agree to a second date. Still, not receiving your first kiss yet in your early twenties isn't exactly a badge of honor. But, maybe I was a tad too ashamed of myself.

"I don't know, Axe. I mean, first you say I should go out and enjoy NYC life, now you're saying I shouldn't let her slip away? Which is it?"

Axel took a while to make up his mind, since apparently my question was a very complicated one. Frustrated, I got up and started pacing before I heard him say something.

"Dude, you got a Clay Aiken ballad in your head. I'm just realizing how serious this is already. Besides, I can't really see you drinking, not even a Shirley Temple."

I smirked as I stopped pacing. "You calling me a wuss?"

"In my own affectionate way, yeah, I am."

"You know what they taught us in school about drinking."

He sighed on the other end. "True, true, I gotta stop being a barfly every Friday night, I guess. It's not good for me."

It was true that my friend did sneak in alcohol once in a while, but in all seriousness, I was his lookout. I made sure, even long-distance, that he wasn't drinking beer too much or being too...ah...promiscuous. In some ways, with his parents divorced too, he really didn't have structure in his life. I had seen Axel in great times, but I'd also seen him pretty depressed and angry. Maybe alcohol now was his way to cope, but I intended on making him kick that habit. It was about as bad as his middle school cigarette smoking, if not worse.

Not wanting to get too bleak in my thoughts, I told him confidently, "Well, one of these days, Budweiser is going to taste like crap to you. And when that day comes, I will—"

"Call me and brag about how you were right all along. I get it, Dem. So about this girl we keep mysteriously avoiding talking about for some reason..."

The sun reminded me of her. That was how sappy I was becoming over Aerith, but hey, what the heart wants the heart wants. "She's going to be a certified nurse next month. She's about my age. She's incredibly sweet. She just...recently...broke up with someone."

"Oooh." Axel was probably wincing. "Not sure if it's a good call then, taking her out."

"The break-up was a year ago!"

"Yeah, but still...When chicks say they're over someone, it's usually not true. They lie to themselves that they don't want their exes back, but they do."

Oh. My. God. Shut up, Axel, seriously! He was trying to get me all pessimistic before this date would even start.

"Look, Axe, I know you're trying to be realistic, but I'm way more nervous."

"Sorry, dude. Maybe I'm just a little jealous of you, because this chick does sound pretty awesome."

"Jealous? Of me? Axel, Axel, don't be so envious."

I heard him laugh full-out. "Look, Clay Aiken—that song—is obviously speaking to you right now. It's telling you to go for that date. Make it happen."

Almost laughing myself, I replied, "That had to be the sappiest thing you ever said."

Usually, comments like that were more likely to come out of Roxas' mouth than Axel's. My redheaded friend preferred jokes to things that could be—God forbid—endearing.

"Hey, anything to help a bro out, you know what I'm sayin'? You and Roxas are like family to me. Just act natural. K? 'Sides, if this chick could fix you up at a hospital, then that's gotta lead to something special. Good luck, buddy."

"Thanks, man. And good luck with college."

"Heh, like I need it. Bye."

"Later."

Ah, Axel reminded me of my other friends and family back home.

I missed them so much, even though I made sure to call them once or twice a week. Thing was, I didn't want to pay a steep cellphone bill because of the fact I called from miles away. Hearing my friend's advice on my situation with Aerith, though, really cheered me up and made me feel better about myself. Even though "acting natural" had to be the oldest line in the book, I realized it would be the best thing for me to do. If I could relax quite a bit, I wouldn't be so tense over the fact I would be going on my twelfth first date. I had yet to get a second one from any one girl.

So, basically, the pressure was on for me to succeed at this dating thing. Do it right the first time, and I would have a second date, a third date, a fourth date...

Now, if only my arm could get better. As soon as the doc could remove my sling, I would be good to go. _And _I wouldn't embarrass myself by dropping silverware again and again. I mean, it had been difficult eating the past few days, no thanks to me dropping the stupid fork and the stupid knife. Hm, even if Aerith had assisted the doc into helping me get the sling on, I still didn't want it on me the next time I met her. No, next time would be perfect, and I owed it to one thing: my expertise in good restaurants. There was this Chinese restaurant a few blocks away that was less fast food joint and more decent place for a date. I'd arranged it with Aer, who was relatively happy about going there. Lucky for me, Chinese was her favorite. I really, really looked forward to Wednesday.

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"K, which shirt am I gonna wear? Hm...This one says I'm vintage rocker, which I am...But, Aer might think I'm a slacker who lies about holding a job. Then again, I was definitely not gonna lie about being a male secretary. Hm, this shirt's OK, as long as I roll up the sleeves, maybe a white tie. Or something. Meh, I'll throw something on."

It was Wednesday night, the night to impress a girl, something I hadn't attempted to do in quite some time. Even though—I know—guys normally don't care what they wear on dates, I was a bit stressed over it. Didn't know why, really. I guessed that I wanted Aerith to see me as a potential boyfriend, which, at this point, was extremely weird. I had barely known her two full weeks, and I was willing to pull off all the stops.

To see those pretty green eyes shine when she would look at me, sitting and waiting for me at the Chinese place...Was it too bizarre that a song came to me just then? Ignoring my lousy sensitive artist thoughts, I flung shirts out of my closet and onto my bed. At this rate, I would be running late for the planned (carefully planned, I added) date if I didn't pick something. I told myself that if Aerith only based who she liked on clothes, then she wouldn't be worth going with in the future. Something told me she wasn't shallow. But, I could not help but worry over that. Axel had had me go out with shallow girls before sometimes. Needless to say, that was yet another reason I was single throughout high school. Come on, though, like I was going to go out with anyone shallow!

Looking anxiously over at the digital clock over on my night table, I know that I needed to hurry up. I had five minutes to get there. So I resorted to drastic tactics.

"K, here goes." I closed my eyes before picking a shirt off the bed. "Good, it's the black one. I'll put on the white tie, and she'll think I'm the hottest thing there."

That was the intention anyway. I couldn't exactly blend into the background for her to not pay attention to me. In the meantime, I wondered what she would wear. I had yet to see her out of those green nurse scrubs. I could tell even from that later migraine afternoon that she probably had a great sense of style. Instead of those ugly loafers and those even uglier Crocs that I'd seen the hometown nurses wear, she wore light pink sneakers.

I'm not big on fashion, cuz I admit that I cared heck of a lot more if she would wear a dress tonight. She definitely had the body for one, the curves, the face. Everything about her could knock me out without a problem. And I couldn't wait to get to know her as a person, too. I just wouldn't be in for the looks by themselves. If she bored me to death, it was safe to say that that wouldn't be a good sign. If she was bored by _me_, that wouldn't be a good sign. And if, worst of all, she flubbed my name once I'd walk in, there would definitely not be a second date. That would make me look really bad, but if a chick couldn't get my name right, it was over. It would mean that Aerith would try to get rid of me before I said two words. And she wouldn't do that to me, I hoped.

Great, I was freaking out over potentially disastrous scenarios that would result in me not having a long-term relationship. As for her, she could probably be able to shrug it off as for the best. After all, since she had recently gotten over a guy, then wouldn't that make me the rebound? I'd thought it over the past few days, concluding that it could be possible. But, surely she was the type of girl who knew what she was getting into before starting a relationship. I banged my head against the nighstand, ticked at myself for trying to talk myself out of this. As Axel basically told me, the Clay Aiken music was a sign. It was a sign, dang it!

I got over my nerves and laced up my black pair of Converse to _finally _be ready to go.

As I was headed down the stairs to the exit, my neighbor Miss Leone was headed up, carrying a bag of groceries.

"My, aren't you all dressed up? You goin' on a date, Demyx?" she asked.

I grinned, wondering if my natural charm would shine through with Aerith tonight. "Glad you asked, Miss Leone. Matter of fact, I am. She's a really pretty girl, too.'

"Ah, well, good luck then."

Nodding assuredly, I ran the rest of the way down and went out into the night. I checked my watch. Er...five minutes late now! I only hoped that that was considered fashionably late and not "I blew it" late.

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**A/N: Knowing Demyx, he's most likely going to be hindered by stuff even more just to get to his date. What will it be? Next time, you'll know...XD**


	3. Stressed

**A/N: Well, I feel weird for updating on a Monday, but oh well. This story has taken long enough to be updated, so here it is.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH.**

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**Chapter 3: Stressed**

Ten frickin' minutes late! I—I seriously had no idea that that skater kid would crash into me like he had. Then, there were people milling around where I fell, and some of them were taking out cellphones. No doubt that by the end of the night, I would be on Youtube. After all, according to some people, falling down is the funniest thing ever. They had to have had the maturity of twelve-year-olds if that was the case. Speaking of which, that was about how old that kid was. It looked to me like he was a fledgling skater. Whatever, I had a date to be on.

"What? You never saw someone trip before?" I told them off (so unlike me, I know, but the pressure was _so _on) before sprinting over to the Chinese place.

I hoped to God that Aerith wouldn't be too angry with me over my lateness or find fault with my appearance. To be honest, I wasn't sure how much of a wreck I looked like at the moment, but it was probably pretty bad. My black shirt had smudges on it (small, but hey, a chick could catch sight of these) and the same went with my jeans. Aerith, please, please, don't be mad at me. Please! I had the desperation of a kid practically half my age when it came to that. So, when I finally arrived at the restaurant (thirteen minutes late!), I wondered if she had up and left without any more waiting. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

I desperately (hm...maybe desperate's too strong a word...um, searchingly was a much better word) looked for her green eyes, her brown hair in that braid that seemed to suit her face perfectly...

You know, Demyx, I told myself, the guy usually doesn't fall for the girl at the beginning of the chick flick. I was obviously falling too fast, too hard for my amazing, beautiful, nice caretaker from that hospital. No normal dude would react this strongly to that first chance meeting. Slowly calming myself down, I smoothed my hair out while convincing myself that this was no big deal. I had made it to the first date phase anyway. It wasn't like I was going to propose to her any time soon.

Axel was right: I should just relax and live in the moment.

It was a very snazzy place as far as Chinese restaurants went. Well-crafted paper lanterns that ranged in color from red to blue to orange hung on random lines strung across the ceiling. There was a huge space for the diners with the typical benches and tables. The smell of Asian cooking like cabbage and noodles and other stuff like that went to my ever sharp nostrils. Mmm...This place was one of my favorites for a reason. Considering that it was owned by a middle-aged Chinese immigrant couple and their children, the food was authentic and didn't have any of that fast food crap smell about it that was so phony in other spots. I had gotten to know the son of the middle-aged owners, a kid with the distinctly Western Hemisphere sounding name of Pence. Well, since he _was _eighteen (he'd been working in this restaurant since sixteen), he wasn't that much of a kid.

In some ways, he could pass off as fifteen in terms of maturity. Yet, he had this ambition, this drive to become a magazine photographer or a journalist that it was easy to see he would make an honest living. When I saw him up front at the counter, I waved to him.

"Hey, Pence, what's up, man?" I asked, remembering the last time we hung out at the mall, actually, his treat. Before I came up to him, he looked bored and tired. As soon as I greeted him, he perked up and grinned.

He said, "Nothin' much, man, though the place is packed."

That honestly wasn't saying much because Chang's Chinese Diner was always packed. After all, I wasn't the only person crazy about it.

Curious about where Aerith was at the moment, I told Pence, "K, I set up this date with somebody incredible. She'll probably have braided brown hair and green eyes. Seen anyone in here with that description?"

Pence nodded. "Yeah, she came here about fifteen minutes ago. She's...over...there. So don't worry. Your lateness didn't scare her off."

Pretending to glare at him, I replied with, "Well, dude, a skater delayed me. But, I'm glad she waited. Thanks, buddy."

As a customer came up to him next, he said optimistically, "Well, good luck, Dem. Sounds like you really need it because of those issues. I hope the kid didn't rough you up too badly."

I laughed, even though it really wasn't that funny to me yet. That would take a couple weeks for that sore ego of mine to heal. "Not enough to get me into the hospital."

"Seriously, break a leg out there."

A date had nothing to do with theatre, but OK, whatever suited Pence's fancy. I was relieved that Aerith stayed around for me, even when she didn't have to. Walking in the direction where my friend pointed her out to me, I saw her faster than I would have without anyone's help. Like I expected, she looked gorgeous.

Sitting in practically the back corner of the restaurant, she quietly skimmed over the menu like she probably had for the past fifteen minutes. It embarrassed me that she had to wait this long on my account. Call me old-fashioned, but I wasn't one of those guys who put off half an hour before showing up. As I awkwardly smiled and sat down across from her, I noticed what she was wearing. She wore a black ruffled (that was all I could describe it as) shirt with white jeans. I was surprised to see her in black, but she could pull it off. Her light brown hair went with it well. She wore very little make-up, not like she had to.

I sighed nervously, self-consciously touching my hair. "Sorry I'm late, Aerith, I really am. It's just...I had to decide what to wear, which actually took longer than a guy like me should have wasted time on. Then, I talked to my neighbor a little bit on the way out, and by then I was in a rush. And _then_, this skater kid crashed into me, and it really hut. I'm surprised I didn't break anything this time. And people were recording the crash, like it's so funny. It wasn't. Might be later but for now...So I'm probably a huge mess right now, and I'm sorry. I'll get it if you don't want to be here much longer."

Aerith smiled, laughing softly at me. "Demyx, I only waited fifteen minutes. Besides, you would have called me if something came up."

I was floored by how cool she was about this. Any other chick would have left me in a huff.

She handled herself very well to the point I felt like I didn't deserve this easygoingness from her about this. Or maybe I was being way too harsh on myself. I picked up her menu and already knew what I was going to order. I always ordered egg rolls here at Chang's, the best ones I tasted in my life. The Chinese place back home was too McDonald's. And...Well, I was frazzled from my rush to get here that I wasn't all that hungry any more. Which kind of defeated the purpose, but I couldn't control what happened. If I could, Aerith would only have had to wait ten minutes instead of fifteen. Hands shaking, I was almost too nervous to say anything at all. I didn't have a good reason for it either. I mean, I couldn't helplessly stay shut up when I was on a date. That would be stupid.

Aerith told the waiter just then that she wanted chow mein, a glass of water, and hey Demyx, wouldn't you like to order something? I admit that I'd been pretty zoned out, her voice barely snapping me out of it. I ordered, the waiter left, and I played with my napkin. I shouldn't have been this anxious around a woman who was as open as she was, but I couldn't get over being late. I had to try to make some small talk, though. So, I stared her in the eyes to show I wasn't going to chicken out.

"So, how've you been? Any more interesting cases on your hands?"

She giggled softly, because she never did things loudly. "Not as interesting as you have been."

I didn't figure that there would be anyone as interesting as me who had since come through the hospital doors. I fell off a bus for God's sakes! And I broke my arm before I could safely exit. There would hardly be a story quite like that for weeks to come.

"Hm, well, my arm's better anyway."

Typical of her nursing instincts, she touched my right arm to feel the bones. I was still quite stiff, obviously, since I couldn't recover that quickly.

"Ah, you are a little better. Hopefully, I won't have to do my job on you any time soon."

I grinned. "Don't worry about it, Aerith. I'll just have to avoid going out in public so that my klutziness doesn't get the better of me."

We got our food about then, which was yet another upside of Chang's that I liked a lot. Their service was good, because Pence's parents and his older sister were pros in the kitchen. Again, no wonder the place was often packed. I chugged down some of my Pepsi (the only Americanized thing about the place was the drinks) to distract myself. In my mind, I was busy lecturing myself repeatedly over how I should have acted toward her. I mean, I was getting slightly too caught up over my lateness. And not to mention Aerith was perfection. It wasn't every day that guys like me got to be with girls like her. And I could imagine all the skeptics. Heck, in high school, I was considered gay.

Because, according to those pieces of (censor here, I can't help it), I wasn't rough looking enough to be a hardcore rock musician. In fact, they thought I was androgynous. And that prank those jocks pulled on me with girls' make-up wasn't funny. What _was _funny was the way I got back at them. That involved girls' clothes, and that's a story I probably won't tell at all.

So, yeah, this was a nice change of pace. Aerith acted like she was on a legit date with me, and I about had to convince myself to get myself together.

"So, you know that kid at the counter? I noticed you talking to him."

The first words that came out of her mouth after we got our food were concerning Pence? All right, all right, I was down with that. I thought.

Adjusting my tie before nibbling on one of my egg rolls, I told her, "Yeah, I know him. He was one of the first people I met in New York. Basically, he showed me around my neighborhood, and I know his family somewhat because of it. I don't have much time to hang out, though, what with my job..."

Grr, and it shouldn't have been my job to begin with! Only in my dreams, I guess.

She smiled slightly as she sipped her water. "As male secretary?"

"Yep, and I've been back to work for a couple days now. God, I hate my job."

"I like mine, actually. I've been very fortunate."

It took more than luck to find that rad, ideal job for yourself in my opinion. Honestly, it took a miracle any more, especially with money being so tight and all. I wasn't sure how I would be off in a few years' time, if I would be all right in terms of money or downright poor. Maybe I should have been talented at being a lawyer or being a doctor...or accounting. Then again, it wouldn't have been anything I loved. Aerith was a lucky girl.

"You're a lucky girl," I said what was on my mind, looking at her briefly.

She shook her head. "Not technically. I like helping people out. When I do get to be a nurse, I would do it every day. I don't mind."

I sighed, finishing off the egg roll I was on and just kind of thinking bitterly. This wasn't going like I thought it would be going. I wanted to tell some jokes to make her laugh. I couldn't believe we were talking about work again. It would be the only thing we got at this rate. Panicked again, I took another swig of Pepsi and thought of changing the subject.

"What kind of music do you like? I mean, what bands?" she asked.

Finally, she spoke my language! "Well, uh, that's tough. I like a lot of bands, more than I can count on my iPod. I like Nirvana, Motley Crue, Aerosmith, R.E.M..."

Aerith grinned while absentmindedly twirling her light pretty brown hair that I found my eyes locked on. "I love R.E.M., absolutely love them!"

"Cool. But, you seem more of the solo artist type of listener. Am I right?"

She nodded, which left me praying that she didn't listen to Katy Perry or Lady Gaga or that Ke$ha chick. She seemed too smart for that type of—how do I put this nicely?—crap garbage.

Finally, she put me out of my misery. "I usually listen to some more contemporary music like Sarah McLachlan, Norah Jones, Fiona Apple..."

Perfect! I seemed to associate that word with her lately, but it was all too true. Her listening to these artists was a sign that she was bit of an intellectual.

Even though some guys might not think so (i.e. the jocks at my old high school), I think intelligence is sexy in a woman. That was what I liked in someone I would date, I figured. On the other hand, this would make me look like a total dumbass in comparison. Would she be into anyone like me? And how many times had I asked myself that question now?

I just smiled and nodded. "Ah, so I take it you're not into that overly mainstream pop...um, stuff."

Too tempted to say "crap", I just coughed really loud, because I thought she would be offended for some reason. I honestly didn't want to look like I was trashing her music tastes.

Aerith giggled and replied, "No. Definitely not. I admit that I did listen to Britney Spears when I was eleven, but that was just a phase."

"I think that whole early 2000's pop craze was all just a phase we'd all like to forget," I joked, but kind of meant it. Honestly, when the other kids (mostly girls) in my grade listened to that type of music, I got introduced to Led Zeppelin through Axel. Hm, and I remember thinking that band might scare me. As it turned out, I got addicted to it from then on out.

"But, no, I don't understand why people listen to Lady Gaga now," she told me.

Exactly! But, I was so not a pop person to say the least, despite the fact that one of the mean girls from high school stuck a Jonas Brothers CD inside my locker one day. Again, another gay accusation. Yeesh, I sure got picked on a crapload back in those days, especially freshman year, when most of this stuff happened. I kept having the urge to tape a sign that said, "I'm not gay, maybe you are" on my shirt front or something.

I shrugged. "Yeah, well, I got three iPods full of varying types of rock for the most part. And some stuff my best friend Axel would scold me for having."

Aerith's eyes looked really round and big. "Three?"

"Yeah, but I gave one to my sister. I told you I was all about the music. Or if I haven't told you before, now I have."

And that was basically how the rest of our date went, the two of us talking about nothing but music. I seriously wondered if Aerith would get bored by this mania I had over music, rock especially. If anything, she seemed interested—genuinely interested—about what I had to say. I would ask her questions on her opinions, too. After all, it wasn't like I wanted to get caught up in this long, crazy rant of mine without stopping. Believe me, I have annoyed people like that. Including my mom, Namine, Axel—pretty much everybody close to me. We shared a few laughs, like when I would overexaggerate on how much I hated a certain band or when Aerith admitted that in middle school, punk rock influenced her style.

Personally, she was way too placid and law-abiding to be very much into punk, and I was up front about that. She said she knew that, too. So, we paid the bill, and we walked toward my apartment. Not to, uh, do anything there, I assure you! It was because she mentioned she lived a few blocks away from me in another apartment complex. I wondered why I hadn't seen her before my little hospital visit then. Oh well, that could be answered some other day. We stopped in front of the stoop. This was the suspenseful part, the only part I disliked about all this. She would tell me her critique.

I held my breath, wincing, as though ready for the bad news to come before she said the words. I failed my drivers' test three times before getting the damn license. Nothing came easy for me. _Ever_!

Instead, as I cracked one eye open, I saw her smiling sweetly at me. "I had a great time tonight, Demyx. Maybe on our second date, we can get even more acquainted."

Wh—What? Did she just say those two magic words "second date" that I'd never heard before? Oh God, this was a miracle!

"Um, I had a good time, too. S—See you on the next d—date then. Later."

Then, I got back inside my building in disbelief. Wait for it...Wait for it...

I was so loud in my victory yelling that some dude in 3B asked if I was constipated.

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**A/N: No offense to people who like listening to Lady Gaga and all that pop stuff, it's just for Demyx's character. Cuz, honestly, I can't see too many guys being into that girly pop stuff or whatever, do you? As for the beginning, when the skater kid bumped into Demyx...um, not based on a true story, but just straight-up improv. For some reason, Demyx falling on his ass for the second time was just hilarious to me. I need to stop torturing him like that. XD**


	4. The Crappy Job

**A/N: K, for some reason, inspiration for this story has run drier than the Mojave Desert for me. Don't ask me why. It'll probably be shorter than I originally thought, but oh well. Oh, by the way, it was originally H & R Block that Demyx worked at, but then I remembered it's taxes rather than insurance. Taxes, insurance...It's all the same as far as I'm concerned.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the random joke at the beginning (just thought it was fitting to put it in there) or anything else referenced like fast food places or All-State. XD Or KH.**

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**Chapter 4: The Crappy Job**

"We've all had some pretty crappy jobs, right?"

So begins a Dane Cook joke, though I personally believed that working in a cubicle-type office was way higher on the "suck" level than a fast food joint. At least at Burger King or KFC or some place like that, there's the smell of food. Here, at this business (I guess you call All-State a business, right?), there's only copies and paperwork in triplicate and claims...And no one is happy here. I work with people who wear frowns on their faces to work along with the proper attire. Meaning no jeans, no high-tops, no Aerosmith T-shirts (I got busted one time for that), and NO HOODIES! God, the one thing I miss about high school: wearing those things. When I broke my good phone-holding arm, I wished I had days off forever.

Instead, I was back facing my old enemy. It had given me fits the minute I applied, I swear. Every time I walked by it, it probably glared at me.

It was the devil. The one. The only.

Fax machine! Dun-dun-dun!

I drawled randomly, "All right, back at All-State, makin' copies!"

It was inspired by this old SNL skit with Rob Schneider in it, and he was that annoying office guy. I still found it hilarious. My nearest colleague did not and—well—frowned like all the rest of them.

"Hey, _someone's _gotta pretend they like their job," I told him fake cheerfully, but he just scoffed at me, trudging off. What was his deal?

All right, I had to make triplicate copies of this dude's accident report, and it should...

Holy obscenities. It struck back by being difficult again. Basically, it wouldn't do it. I pushed the big blue button and everything.

My head was on the wall, back and forth, back and forth. I had been hitting myself a lot lately, but you would too if you were a male secretary working at All-State with a damn lousy fax machine not working for the billionth time!

"This job is going to kill me. And then I'll have to do it in Hell," I assured myself, though I dreaded that day.

Well, nothing left for me to do but to tell the boss about the issue. Like any other bored office worker under the drudgery of working in a cubicle (or in my case, a non-cubicle desk), I didn't like my boss. If anything, I hated him. I think that some bosses just become that to give you hell. Mr. Foley was that prime example and delighted in torturing us. Yep, Xaldin Foley, resident big man on campus...or thought so anyway. Usually, I would ask someone else to help me with that evil fax machine, only my problem with it had turned into a staple around here. And like a staple, it got old quick. So, there really was no one else to turn to except that boss. I trudged over to his office to explain the problem. He laughed like a bad guy from a fantasy flick.

"Having problems with that piece of crap again, Picardi?" he rhetorically asked me, with that disgusting smirk on his face. "That thing must hold a grudge against you."

I was surprised that it had been regular laughter coming from Foley and not "hahaha, you're fired," type of laughter. That was the weird thing about him. He only fired one person for as long as I worked here, about two years.

"You're not kidding, sir," I responded, half-grinning though wanting to kill the ass. Mr. Foley walked over to the machine with me, pressed random buttons, and it was fixed in no time. God, that made me despise him even worse.

He grinned. "There you go, Picardi. That should do ya."

His arrogance was one more reason why it was so difficult to get up in the morning on work days. It goes along with the co-workers wearing frowns along with their decent clothes and the fax machine and the phone calls. As soon as I faxed the car accident report, my phone started ringing. I practically sprinted down the hall to my desk, nearly falling down as I grabbed the phone.

"Hello, you have reached All-State. How can I help you?" I asked in my smooth secretary voice that always sounded so fake to me. I was no better than a telemarketer in that aspect. At least if I had been a musician now, I wouldn't have to hide behind anything. I would be myself, interacting with my audience through music.

Until then, I had to deal with an angry guy on the other end, shouting, "OK, I bought insurance from you all two months ago, and you're seriously ripping me off! You're in a crapload of trouble, buddy!"

He didn't say "crapload", and he didn't call me "buddy" either, let's just say that much. Hearing someone screaming at me and getting flak for being a lowly secretary gave me headaches. Another day at the office, so anyone would say to shrug off. Me? I cannot wait until I get home and don't even laugh at _The Office_. That show is stuffed full of lies. I would rather have Steve Carrell be my boss, though, than Mr. Sideburns Foley any day of the week.

For the next couple of hours, I answered phone calls in a lackluster cheery tone that told people how much I hated working here. Most people, fortunately for me, would ask for the boss most of the time, so I just directed them to his phone. Easy enough, I guess, but it was a very tedious job. I was putting in my time like everyone else, and soon enough, I did wear the unofficial uniform frown on my face. My misery didn't last as long as I thought, because when I glanced down at my watch, it read 12:00. Lunch break. Finally. Time to get out of this dull office building for a while to at least get some fresh air. It might have been fall, but hey, I was desperate.

Bursting out of the doors as fast as possible, I crossed the street to Subway.

I knew that I wasn't always going to be this trim 175 pounds I was now, so I decided to go there every other day for lunch. Nice, healthy subs were what I needed to eat anyway. However, I couldn't stop there every day due to the fact that I needed to save money. My rent cost $400 a month, after all, so I was always in a bit of a pinch. Not too much of one, but definitely more than when I lived in the house with Mom and Namine. Speaking of which, I might have felt like calling my little sis to check up on things with her. In the meantime, I told one of the Subway workers what I wanted in my sub: ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, and some mayo. To go with my sub, I got a Mountain Dew (my teeth are gonna rot) and a giant M&M cookie.

Looking at all the other people in this particular Subway, I saw them as coming from all walks of life. The dreadlocked teenager listening to his iPod (I could relate), a stay-at-home mom with her four-year-old kid, a group of teenagers, and...a couple looking into each other's eyes—I looked away, not hoping for anyone to glance back at me. How awkward is it to see a couple there, even if they're not physically touching? There is obviously an intimacy between two people together that can't be interrupted. They could be in a crowd of a hundred people, and nothing could tear their eyes away.

God, was I going to write an angsty love song next? It would be like R.E.M., with all those songs about love unrequited, obsession, and everybody hurting.

I munched on my sandwich to keep my anxieties at bay, because I had to reassure myself that Aerith had definitely enjoyed our first date. She suggested a second one, didn't she? But, with her job and my job, we hadn't had the time to just call each other up and plan the next date. Maybe I should do it now. Then again, we could be talking for two hours, and that was way more than my break would allow. Instead, I dialed my sister's cellphone number, since her lunch break from school was relatively the same time as mine. Namine was eighteen years old, and she had an idea of what she wanted to do when she got out of high school. Hopefully, she would get a scholarship, unlike me.

They gave them all to the popular people, so I wasn't at fault there. If they based whether or not Namine should get one on her being related to me, I was definitely going to do something about it. Like what? Would I say I would get an attorney, when it wasn't likely I could afford one? Oh, whatever.

"Hey, bro, what's up?" I heard Nam's voice after her phone rang twice.

I smiled. "Not much, Namine, just eating a sandwich at Subway by myself. How are you doin'?"

"Great, though I'm in the middle of something right now."

"Lemme guess...date with Sora?"

She sounded slightly sarcastic when she replied, "Um, yeah, no kidding."

Sora Michaels (not related to Bret) had been Namine's boyfriend for about five months at this point. She told me about a month or so into their dating that, for some reason, she got a popularity boost from it all. Ah, high school shallow behavior would never change! But, yeah, I met Sora a couple times before, and I had really liked his genuine niceness as a person. I played X-Box with him, too. It was our version of male bonding, though I saw him as a little brother type. That embarrassed the hell out of Namine, as though as _her _big brother, I wasn't supposed to interact with her friends. Like I said before, I couldn't help that mostly everyone in my grade treated me like crap. I about had to be not selective about who could be my friend.

"Then, take it outside if you're so uncomfortable. For one, it's not like I'm actually here with you in small town New York State. For two, I'm not Mom!"

Namine sighed huffily, in such a teenage pout. "Good point. At least I can talk to you about teen stuff. You've lived it."

Then, I heard her take a break in which she told her boyfriend who she was talking to before adding, "You're lucky that you're not in high school still. Ugh, I had U.S. government class last hour. I fell asleep with my eyes open, so I had to ask Xion for notes. Then again, she was barely awake either..."

U.S. government class sucked for me, too. I usually had a song stuck in my head then...

Recalling that I did have a crappy office job made me realize that maybe half-drooling on a school desk wasn't so bad. No, in comparison, I would have given anything to attend my lousy high school right then and there. At least then that way, I would be told what to do and...Actually, I was employed at a grocery store at the time, so I guess before, when I was a freshman. Yeah, it sucked, but I was so innocent back in those days.

"Come on, Nam, be thankful. _You _don't have to work at All-State."

"True, true." Oh, she was bragging. "But, school is boring."

I nodded, savoring the mayo on my sub. "Well, actually, something exciting happened to me."

Wait until my little sis found out that I met a potentially long-term girlfriend in Aerith. She would be so shocked, because she and my mom figured that I would wait until I moved out on my own when I would find somebody. Frankly, I thought I was going to be married to my music, my career, I idiotically thought.

"So, what's this exciting thing?" she asked, sounding more interested.

I laughed, feeling light-hearted once I thought of Aer. "I met someone."

"As in a chick?"

Oh, yeah. "Yep, but it was at the least likely place. A hospital."

Now, it was her turn to laugher. "How come I'm not surprised?"

Well, let's see, I've had four hospital visits in my lifetime, not counting that most recent one. I fell out of a tree, got beat up pretty bad by this crazy kid in fifth grade, cut my lip open when a basketball hit me there, and broke my leg jumping off Axel's roof (guess who came up with that one?). Once a klutz, always a klutz, and truer words were never spoken.

Slowly shaking my head, I only looked out the window. "She's going to be a nurse, her name is Aerith, and I've already gone out on a date with her."

I had to hold my phone away from my ear, though, because Namine started squealing enthusiastically. I even heard Sora ask, "What the heck, Nam?", my sister telling him what it was, and him saying, "Oh, sweet. Congrats for Dem!"

Grinning, I said in my phone, "Tell Sora I said hi."

"Will do. But, oh my God, Demy, that is so exciting!"

"You haven't called me that since you were four."

She laughed slightly. "You found someone, finally. I thought it would never happen."

"Thanks for your support," I told her sarcastically.

"Well, Sora and I gotta get back to school. And _you _should get back to work. Later, Dem, and good luck with...with...oh, Aerith. Sorry, I'm just so happy for you. Bye."

I sighed, resigned to my fate. "I'll go back to my crap job, yeah. See ya."

I hung up, and suddenly, I was alone with a three-quarters eaten sandwich and all these random people surrounding me again. Talking to Namine gave me a sense of what was going on back home, which was, as usual, nothing. But, it was a calming sense, though, of the fact that nothing happened. The quietness of a small town could get relaxing after a while, especially if you're like me living in one of the biggest cities ever. You get to kind of miss living in that boring hometown after years of that. I saw the pros and cons of living in New York. There was less gossip spread about me, and I wasn't treated like crap as much. But, then, there was this feeling of isolation that followed me everywhere I went in the city.

All those neon lights weren't filled with that warmth of lamplight in the small windows of houses I would notice driving home from work. A city that never slept was fun at first, but after a while, you could just get insomnia night after night. That was probably why I preferred writing songs during the daytime now as opposed to when it was dark outside—at least the New York equivalent of dark.

Once I had put my cellphone back in my pocket, I did feel lonely here at this Subway with no one else I knew or could talk to. Normally, I tended to forget that I would go solo most of the time, considering that could truly drive me insane.

Wow, I was glad that Namine got as giddy as she did over me meeting a potential girl I could call my someone. As cheesy as that sounded, I didn't mind falling in love or getting committed to this one girl. Shaking my dream thoughts off, I left Subway, leaving the dreadlocked kid, that clique-y group of teens, the mother and child, and the couple who made me feel insecure behind. It was such a relief to ditch them, so absorbed in their lives. Inevitably, I was such an outsider, gazing into a window at them. I felt like I had intruded, even if Subway was a public place. As I walked back across the street (after waiting for a stream of traffic), I blended into everything with my dull work clothes. My gray pants especially blended into the asphalt of the street.

* * *

My phone conversation with my crazy little sis was virtually the highlight of my day, no surprises there. The remainder of my day involved the typical answering of phone calls, using that demonic fax machine, and even talking to people (the very few) who might drop in for insurance-related stuff. I honestly didn't care, cuz I was just doing my job. Punch it in, punch it out. My colleagues (yeesh, why did I bother to call them that?) would pass my desk with uniform frowns. If I had been performing on stage, I would have seen smiles and grins and heard the excessive cheering. I would ask my audience what was up and...well, yeah...

But, so I dreamed all that afternoon until 5:30 when I got off work.

Another reason why I couldn't go to Subway that often was that I needed a taxi to get home every night. Though they could be dodgy sometimes, it was usually the late-night taxis. However, in case of something bad, I didn't take out my wallet too much. Who really wants to be robbed in a taxi? While the taxi I was in was halted at a long light, I heard my cellphone with its "Back in Black" ringtone. Hm...I answered it.

"Hello?"

My face broke into the widest grin. "Aerith, hey, I take it you got off work."

Argh, it made me feel so old whenever I mentioned our jobs. That was just another part of young adult life.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about what you mentioned the first time we met. About your performances at the Flaming Hearts Café."

"What about them? I perform on Friday nights," I mentioned when I performed as a bit of an afterthought. But, still, I had a sense the pressure would be on.

She softly continued, "Well, I was thinking we could go there on our next date. Friday night at eight?"

I gulped but not audibly, luckily. "Yeah, sure."

Punched it in, punched it out of my crappy job. And now, I had to make sure my singing was pitch-perfect.

* * *

**A/N: Oh God, a bunch of random quotes here, no? XD By the way, I keep forgetting that Xaldin is British. Probably because no one properly British would go all out on his hair like that, so I keep thinking he's Jamaican. Or an American stoner, whichever. I don't know, just go with the fact he's American for once. I was going to pick someone like Xigbar, but I remember he was sort of the boss in another story I read, and I'd hate to be unoriginal.**

**Anyway, until next chapter, when Demyx performs at that nice cafe that's in my mind. I wish I'd been 20 something in the '90's, because coffeehouses were apparently all the rage back then.**

**By the way, Demyx has a name for his guitar. XD**


	5. Stage Presence

**A/N: Wow, guys, this has been a long time since I last updated this. I blame it on one thing: school. This is the chapter, by the way, in which I first started really liking to write this story. You'll see what I mean here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH, corporations, or any of that stuff. K?**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Stage Presence**

I would do some cover songs or _a _cover song, just to demonstrate my talents to Aerith. Then again, maybe I would perform her song—but, that was a work-in-progress. I still had yet to edit it and...It was late Thursday night, and I glanced down at the lyrics messily scrawled on the page of my little notebook. For the most part, I considered them OK, not too bad.

On the other hand, I had written better ones.

_Angel on earth_

_She's so hard to find_

_Once I see her eyes_

_I lose my mind_

_Beautiful when she laughs_

_She's almost someone I can't have_

_Chorus:_

_When she walks by me_

_There's no one else I can see_

_Beautiful in every way_

_Rain can disappear for a sunny day_

Oh God, what a stupid line toward the end of an incomplete chorus! I swore that every pop-punk band had put in lyrics like that before. Well, like I said, the song was in the beginning stages. Once I initially completed it, I would go around scratching stuff out and replacing them with decent words of my choice. Then, I settled back on my couch to watch some TV, a rerun of _Family Guy_. Heck, I had nothing much else to do. As I laughed over all the stupid stunts Peter Griffin was pulling, I imagined what Aerith would wear that next night.

Friday night, the night of absolute freedom, when everybody would receive their paychecks and drink to them. And this time around, I would ask her to walk with me to the café. We did live near each other, after all, so why not? We were becoming fast friends.

Ever since I first saw her, walking in toward me to check up on me, I visualized her in an elegant dress. In my mind, the colors of that dress would vary from light orange to deep blue to a sort of pastel purple. Though, in my dreams, I would mainly focus on her face. And the pretty light brown strands of her hair framing her lovely face...It captivated me, the way she would look at me in those dreams. Maybe tonight, Friday night the most worthwhile one of the week, she would wear a gorgeous dress.

God, I had to _stop _obsessing over whether or not she chose to wear a dress. Did it matter?

That night, with that thought in mind, I snoozed on the couch.

* * *

Would I get kissed that night? Shoot, probably not, we—the two of us—hadn't been that close yet. With our jobs, we never had too much time to connect on an emotional level, metal level, spiritual level...

...Physical level.

Great. Great, now my mind was getting dirty, though it sure was one to talk. No girl had ever given me a nice long liplock before, so being overly cocky thinking about Aerith kissing me was ridiculous. If I wasn't immature, then I wasn't mature enough. According to some girls I've dated.

Nonetheless, in case of the big event (if it would happen at all), I ate a whole thing of mint Tic-Tacs as I got ready. This time, though, I wasn't actually concerned over what I would wear. I thought of what I normally put on for my café performances—hm, if I became famous, I could release a DVD called _Nights at Flaming Hearts_—and threw on a pair of faded jeans and a Nirvana T-shirt, simple black with the lettering of the band's logo. The highlight of my week would come in a few, short minutes when Aerith would come to my door. I told her my room number 4D, so that she could ask the guy downstairs where she could go to get to it. It was pretty self-explanatory, but I thought that in case she forgot, she could ask that dude. Not like there were that many Picardis in this building anyway.

So, while I waited for her to gloriously make her grand entrance to my humble apartment (or at least apartment door), I leafed through my copy of _Carrie. _It was a pretty disturbing book, but I liked it, really. Liked it better than the movie version of it anyway. Luckily, as I found out, Aerith was one of those people who was punctual, more so than I could ever hope to be. At least I hoped it was her and not one of those apartment intruders. Putting my book away, I reached for my guitar on the other end of the overstuffed couch. It happened to have a name, too: Ferris. I would have picked a name more hardcore, but it was just an acoustic. An 80's reference had been the next best thing.

I don't know about you, but as a musician, you tend to get attached to your instruments. Especially if you live in a kind of crappy apartment, and it's one of the few prized possessions you own. A certain bond had developed between me and this inanimate guitar, because performing at the Flaming Hearts Café was where I was happiest. Putting Ferris in his case, I then shuffled over to the door, half-wondering if maybe, with my luck, it was a home invader.

Nope, not living in the plot of _Home Alone_! Aerith stood right outside my door, wearing something just as nice (if not nicer) than our last date.

Sure enough, she did wear a dress, a casual one perfect for the occasion. it was pink, though not a harsh, hot pink that the popular chicks at high school would have gone crazy over. If anything, this shade was pale, subtle, and toned-down compared to blindingly bright shades.

And this time, she wore accessories: a silver chain necklace with a musical note-shaped pendant and a white lily in her hair. I wondered how she managed to get that type of flower in fall, but that was beyond me. Maybe in this instance, she got it at a flower shop. The necklace...

"Hey...Aerith," I said softly, finally remembering I hadn't spoken yet.

She smiled back, glowing as usual. "Hi, Demyx. It's ten til eight, so I thought we might as well go."

She seemed to treat looking beautiful like it was nothing, as effortless as she appeared. Her brown hair for once was let down, and it came down in natural waves. The way she smiled at me made my heart beat fast and my palms sweaty, like unnaturally sweaty.

"Let's go then," I replied with a wry smile, wanting to look at her all night more than anything else. But hey, we had to go unless I wanted to disappoint people at the café. Nowadays, they showed up sometimes just to see me, which I found hard to believe. After all, coffeehouse performances are becoming a lost art any more. It's all about the big stadiums rather than the little things.

As soon as we got out of the apartment building, the real conversation began. I could hardly believe that within (what was it?) about a month, we had gotten a little bit closer. At least it wasn't between Nurse Gainsborough and that random klutz of a patient. It was Aerith and Demyx, two people stuck in the workforce already in their early twenties but having the time of their lives. It's weird how people can become slightly different from their personas at work. I could get loose more around her.

"I'm glad you can bring some excitement to my boring life." I grinned, randomly walking backwards, something hard to do in New York. "Work is hell."

In two strides, Aerith caught up with me and grabbed my arm, which made me wonder if she liked my muscles. But, they weren't all that brawny, though I could at least imagine they were.

She smiled calmly up at me. "Not my work, like I said before."

"Yeah, well, doing this every night," I told her, pointing out that cozy looking café just down the street we walked on. "Making music is about as useful as your nursing will be. Well, um, maybe not. But, I feel like insurance isn't really benefiting people. It's just something they gotta do. Heck, the other day, some guy chewed my ear off on the phone. At least music makes people happy."

I let my gaze travel outward toward the giant billboards advertising toothpaste, candy, and other things that ad execs wanted people to buy. Bright lights filled up every corner, whether it was from restaurants or apartment buildings. Though I couldn't look out on the stars, I didn't mind these lights. Most of all, I smiled slightly for once upon noticing all these people from all walks of life walking ahead and behind us. That's what I loved about New York the most, come to think of it. It was a mingling of everyone and everything, every culture and every language. With that many people, there had to be the positive things like love and friendship among the negativity.

I didn't usually get into a spiel about this, but I was a born optimist most of the time. Out of all those lights that surrounded me, though, Aerith's green eyes were the prettiest.

"Music is useful in its own way, Demyx. It's the soundtrack to our lives. Without it, I don't think we'd be the same."

I laughed as we got steps closer to the café. "Yeesh, you didn't have to get poetic!"

She beamed. "Sorry. But, it's the truth. Besides, I admit that working at an insurance agency office does sound boring."

A tickling got in my throat, like I would laugh again. If I had, it would have been even happier than before. I found a kindred spirit in Aer, with our combined love of music. She was an appreciative listener, and I was a storyteller through my lyrics. Hopefully, we would have other things too, but music would be the main one. I was confident of it.

"You ever get the feeling that your mind is an iPod?"

Now, it was her turn to laugh. "What? I guess, maybe."

"Oh, sure you have!" I grinned, peering inside a purposely dimly lit building. "We're here. Flaming Hearts, place for _amour_!"

She followed me inside, mentioning, "And I thought women were supposed to be melodramatic."

I flashed her a grin, enjoying her sense of humor, while I picked out a decent table for us to sit at. Flaming Hearts Café was one of those places that had an atmosphere with the intention of it being comfortable for those visiting. To give it an intimate vibe, scented candles in glass casing were set on each table. Before all these tables was a stage that was always set aside for open mike nights, just like any old House of Blues or restaurant...or bar. To me, though, a café was way better than a bar, despite maybe Axel's opinion on the subject.

And, of course, the coffee...Oh my God, the coffee! Wafting smells of mocha and cappuccino and French vanilla floated across the entire area. One part House of Blues, one part Starbucks—nothing beat this place. When I randomly walked in there one night two years ago, I knew it was home.

"So close to home and yet I never even bothered to drop by here before. Unbelievable. But, now that I'm here, I really like this place. There's just this great atmosphere here," Aerith commented, a dreamy gleam in her eyes. Seeing that was like trapping lighting in a bottle. By that, I mean that I doubted I would see anything that beautiful again.

A waiter stopped by our table and asked if we wanted anything; I wanted black coffee, Aer wanted French vanilla. Black colored coffee was my fave, strictly because I liked the strength of it. Decaf was good, too. But, for the night, I needed to be wired for my performance. Once I had that energy, I could make it through five songs.

Currently, a girl was up on stage, playing some blues standard on a piano. Surely, the thing couldn't be too heavy to the point that no one could carry it up there. She had fast fingers, barely missed a note if any.

"She's really good," Aerith commented once we got our coffee. "But, I'm guessing she'll end up not being as good as you."

As I glanced at her over my cup, I smirked at her. "You're willing to insult my fellow musicians? For me? Aw, that's so sweet of you!"

She giggled, though there was a gentle slyness in her eyes. "I have perfect faith in you that you'll do great tonight. Don't let me be pressure."

"Wouldn't dream of it," I flat-out lied.

"Grace under pressure" is some random phrase I have heard of in the past, and I guessed I would probably need it in a few minutes. Even though Aerith tried to assure me I could do well up on stage with her around, I still had sweaty palms. I gripped tightly on the handle of the guitar case, feeling that maybe Ferris' magic would see me through. Gradually, after playing another perfectly played song, the 20-something-year-old chick walked off the stage after garnering some decent applause. The guy who usually acted as emcee on open mike night walked up there next to announce the next performer. My hands just became even stickier—nasty sticky—with sweat. But, playing music was like breathing to me. What was I worried about?

"K, guys, next up we got a resident favorite. Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the musical stylings of Demyx Picardi!" the emcee announced.

"Uh, thanks, Zidane dude. Really," I responded while people clapped for me. After all, since I tended to hang out at Flaming Hearts, it only made sense that I had made some friends here, too. Like Axel, Zidane had a flair for the overdramatic.

He whispered as I got up, "Good luck out there, buddy. Impress your lady friend over there."

Great, now _he _was giving me pressure! And obviously, I had to get Aer to like my music.

Starting off with something simple, I sang and played "Livin' on a Prayer."

Now, as a general thing with me, I normally don't play overly mainstream rock stuff unless I'm forced. And believe me, the regulars can't get enough of that song. Or anything Journey. Not like they're bad, no, especially in comparison to the lack of good music these days. I wish people (and you'd think it would be this way at a coffeehouse) would get a little more alternative, you know?

That's why I like getting the crowd favorites out of the way first. Once I caught sight of Aerith's beaming smile bordering on grin after the first song, I got way more relaxed. Then, I played "All Apologies", "Hey, Jude", "Just Like Heaven", and "Warning." Yep, for the most part, alternative has always been where it's at. I didn't choke up once, and _that _was surprising.

Receiving some relatively accepting applause, I had no more reason to stay here. I had finished for the night, and Ferris cooperated. I mean, you never know when a string might randomly snap or it gets bizarrely out of tune when you don't want it to. So, now, it was just Aerith and me walking toward her apartment building this time, talking about how my performance went.

"You were amazing out there!" she gushed. "I wonder why you haven't been discovered."

I blushed at that. "Oh...uh...well, you know, it's not like I want to be on _American Idol_."

She gave me a half-shrug. "True, but you're incredibly talented. If you don't get discovered by a talent scout sooner or later...Well, you should be."

And that was just acoustic covers I performed tonight. If I showed her my original material some night, she'd be doubly impressed. My stride was longer and prouder as a grin I couldn't stop spread over my face. My spirits soared like eagles, that was for sure. We kept talking about my music and then random stuff before we got to the front of the complex. I turned to face Aerith, who smiled dazzingly with her eyes shining like the stars I couldn't see in this city.

"I don't think I've ever felt this relaxed around a girl before," I told her seriously, pulling her into my arms. "I'm basically myself around you, and I want more of that."

Where had I gotten it in me to reveal that much passion around her? Aerith was like magic, causing me to be this way after only a couple of dates. But, I knew that this was who she was, a kind, genuine person who was the essence of cool. Honestly, I'd never met anyone like her.

I kissed her, brushing my lips over hers. For some reason, though I never kissed a girl, this wasn't awkward at all. It was effortless for me, as easy as playing music, as easy as breathing. I could have been with her all my life.

Pushing a curled strand of hair out of her face, I admitted shyly, "I like you."

She glowed like the moon. "I like you, too. Night, Demyx."

"Night," I whispered as she headed inside, leaving me totally...

Breathless.

* * *

**A/N: God, I actually really loved that last line there. I don't know how I did it. XD I love talking about music, so this is probably why this chapter was so enjoyable. And it was so cute at the end there, too!**

**Well, if you guys are still around, please review.**


	6. Down Time at Home

**A/N: Hey, guys, knock yourselves out while reading this. Random stuff happens. XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Down Time at Home**

"Got some shredded mozzarella, Aer! Good thing I actually keep some around, huh?" I called out to her nearly a week later after our kiss.

Since then, we had gotten to become like best friends...with benefits. Just kidding! I didn't see Aerith as someone to take for granted or advantage of. We had developed a weird quirk of walking to each other's apartments whenever we ran out of something to get it. Of course, we would kind of pay each other back. I don't know. Some people would have called it odd, but for us, it was just one more way of becoming better acquainted. Because, when we would get each other stuff, we would say one thing interesting about each other.

Checking my peephole for no particular reason, I saw her almost grin at me expectantly. She called before she came over, saying that she forgot that she ran out of shredded cheese she wanted to make Caesar salad. I waved eagerly at her. She waved back.

"Is it still good?" she asked me, as if she couldn't trust me.

However, she sounded like that in a teasing way that made me laugh. Turning the can over, I checked the expiration date.

"Good for another two months. It should be fine."

When I opened the door, I offered the can to her, and she took it without checking the date. Yep, that's the trust in our relationship.

With a tender smile at her, I gave her a tidbit. "I have never eaten at an IHOP before in my life, and that's one of my life goals."

Playing with her braid, she laughed slightly. "Really? I ought to take you to one some time. Is it on your bucket list?"

"Yeah, definitely. Mmm-hmm."

As I looked into her gorgeous green eyes for a while, I sighed and added, "I'm going to be gone for the weekend, starting tomorrow. Gonna visit the folks."

Her smile faded just a little. "That's OK. You gotta check up on them, right?"

I could understand why Aer was kind of bummed out over me wanting to check in on friends and family back home. I knew I would miss her too, continuing to dream about her for the one night I would be gone. And hadn't she said her boyfriend had cheated on her? What if it looked like I was lying about seeing the folks? With the experience that Namine had in dating this one scumbag, she told me that that was exactly what he did. God...if I truly looked like that...Oh, jeez.

I hugged her. "I'll call you while I'm there, OK?"

"Yeah." She nodded against my shoulder, unaware how cute she was.

We had been getting close to each other relatively quickly, our bond strengthening each time we talked. Little by little, as we revealed pieces of each other, we liked what we shared. Sharing is caring, right?

Heh, kindergarten philosophy, too bad people don't like living by it. It's probably because they insist on living in the "real world." Well, isn't the real world what we make it? So, I had decided to welcome Aerith in my real world, and it had paid off magnificently. In fact, I still reaped the benefits. With her around, everything seemed brighter.

Just as I worried that she would get emotional enough to cry (not like she had any reason to), she unwrapped her arms from around my neck. That place where she touched felt kind of cold after that.

"I technically have never eaten sushi before," Aerith admitted, smiling while changing the subject, something that relieved me. Leaving her for the weekend sucked, but I did feel obligated to visit friends and family.

My eyes widened. "Really? God, Aer, you're missing out on the food of the gods. It's like...unbelievable."

"Food of the gods? That's a little extreme, Dem. I'll see you later."

We shared a brief kiss before she left, mozzarella cheese in hand.

* * *

Since moving to the bustling, overpopulated mess that is New York, I hadn't been much of a car driver. I just let the bus do everything or the taxi cab, whichever I felt like taking. This time, I gathered enough courage to take the bus to JFK Airport, and luckily for me, I didn't fall off it this time. It might have had to do with the fact the sun shone brightly, with it being 58° outside. The flight to Albany, the city closest to my hometown, was boring and uneventful. What about that airline food? Well, I'll tell ya, baby, it ain't much. Even the peanuts suck, and it made me wonder what would happen if I was stranded here.

The in-flight movie...just, meh. It was _Mona Lisa Smile_, I think, but I can't be for sure. Obviously, that's a movie more suited for women but still. Would Aerith like something like this? Personally, I thought it was too long, long enough to lull me to sleep anyway. Once I got off the plane, I got another cab and went to a rent-a-car place. I drove some Chevy (model or make doesn't matter to me) the rest of the way toward home.

Home. It had such a welcoming, comforting tone to it.

Not enough cheesy movie quotes could describe how awesome a feeling this was to return here. Not even that one line off _Wizard of Oz _could describe it sufficiently enough. Those comfortably sized houses evenly spread out, the sky looking wider than it ever would in New York, and the beautiful autumn scenery was definitely home. Nothing could be better, I thought as I rolled down the window. Then, for the heck of it, I switched on the car radio to a classic rock station. At that moment, a Rolling Stones song faded out before...

"FREEEEBIIIRD!" I shouted out the window.

Life was good. Even if "Freebird" is on _every _classic rock station.

* * *

Eventually, I reached that familiar hometown that had initially bored me to tears and made me want to get out. But, upon coming back to it, I had this sense of nostalgia that was just nice. I felt mellow for the first time here instead of being filled with this rebellious rage mixed with apathy. Oh, those golden arches of the local McDonald's! The now brown painted Wal-Mart building and the old-looking brick library...And, getting even closer to my house now, the middle school where I got picked on. Hell, some of the hulking bullies challenged me to after-school fights in those days, fights I always lost. There was no such thing as a strong "no bullying" policy.

"Eff you," I told that dump, proudly lifting a middle finger.

I couldn't resist that urge. The middle school was just a miserable place, and the principal sure didn't make it any better. He would sometimes invite the cops over for monthly weed checks. And that would be someone else's story, not mine. I've managed to stay clean and sober all these twenty odd years of life. It's not that hard to do, really, not if you actually try. Driving past all these places, I smiled, knowing that I would see Mom and Namine and Axel face-to-face. My last visit had been six months ago, but to me, it felt like six years had gone by. Big city life tends to leave you hollow sometimes.

Our house was small, yes, and near the heart of town. But, I always liked it because to me, it's ideal, especially from the outside. It's a pale shade of yellow with green shutters and a basic two-car garage. I mean, it even looks homey once you think about it. You expect someone to always come and greet you when you arrive.

After knocking on the door, I waited for a response. Nothing. I had to be patient, though.

"Surprise! Demyx, what is _up_, my man?"

Yep, I was surprised all right, getting a warm reception from my best friend Axel who guy hugged me to death. I at least remembered to breathe.

"Whoa!" I exclaimed once my lungs were in order. "The hell you doing here?"

My crazy redheaded friend laughed at me and patted me on the shoulder as roughly as he ever had. "Thought I'd surprise you. Asked your mom if I could come over first, and she said it was a great idea. As long as I didn't give her precious baby Dem-Dem mad at me."

Toward the end of his explanation, Axel had started to coo and pinch my cheeks. Laughing it off, I abruptly whacked his hand away.

"Dude, that is just disturbing!"

My mom and Namine ran over to the doorway just then, and they too started hugging me like I had been gone forever. I should be thankful I know such affection.

"Oh, Demyx, we missed you so much!" Mom, who hugged me the tightest, kissed both my cheeks like a French person. "And Namine tells me you've been seeing someone! Who is she? I need the details, son."

I rolled my eyes over at Namine. "Couldn't keep it a secret, could you?"

"As if I would!" she scoffed but grinned at me nonetheless.

Hm, it was kind of funny that Mom would be the last to hear of Aerith. The thing of it was, I had been previously worried that she would have been a one date type of deal. I had no idea that things would be that great between us.

Sitting everybody down, I told all of them about my awesome love life and how it had grown progressively better with each passing day. They "awwwed" at the right places, I gotta admit, even Axel who usually pretends that he isn't a hopeless romantic by nature. We laughed a lot too while I told the story, because we were just that happy to see each other again. I asked after them, about how their lives went. Same ole, same ole, they said, and then Axel mentioned one more thing.

"I told Roxas that you were stopping by for the weekend, and he decided to come over all the way from Virginia to see you."

Yep, lucky Roxas, he had gone to University of Virginia. Axel and I were so jealous.

Shoving my luggage away with my foot, I settled back on that comfy green recliner we've had for four years and grinned lazily. "I was starting to wonder if I would ever talk to that sucker again. How's he been doing?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

What? I glanced over my shoulder and noticed Roxas standing there with a huge smile on his face. Leave it to him to have the balls to invite himself in! I let out practically a roar of laughter, giving the sucker in question the biggest man hug in the history of man hugging.

"How's Virginia, you lucky son of a gun?" I asked him.

He gave a half-shrug in response, as though going to a fairly decent school after winning a scholarship was no big deal. "Fine. It gets kind of boring, though. Even for a place where they make Snickers bars, it's basically like here. Lazy small town type of atmosphere. So, you got a girlfriend, apparently?"

I pretended to glare at Axel. "You're not good at keeping secrets either."

"Hey, hey, buddy, don't get resentful. This is worth stopping the presses."

Namine punched the redhead in the arm. "You're acting like this is a miracle. It's not. Demyx can get a girl just like any other guy. Right, Demy?"

I nodded, proceeding to fill Roxas in on what happened with me and Aerith, including the performance at Flaming Hearts.

Roxas smiled again. "Yeah, and I got a girlfriend too, actually."

"Sounds like love is in the air," Mom commented.

"Sure is, Mrs. P. Her name's Olette."

Axel patted Rox's shoulder. "Congrats, buddy."

But, I swore I saw something pass through his face, as if he was almost...sad that he was the only one of us without a girlfriend. Even though he was the only one of us who lost his virginity. Doesn't mean anything, of course.

If it wasn't such a girl thing, Roxas or I could have set the poor guy up on a date. He would refuse our help, though, sure as the world. Axel was always the proud type of guy, never asked anybody to give him anything or help him with anything. With divorced parents, he had to have had to build himself up strong. Problem was, I worried that he hardened himself to nearly everybody except us. We were very nearly the only ones he would let in. I felt empathy for him, I really did, despite the fact he would beat me up for it.

"I stocked up on snacks, in case anyone wants anything," Mom told us out of the blue.

Namine stood up from the couch out of an excitement that she could barely contain. "Yeah, we got Oreos, so if anyone wants some..."

All three of us guys didn't even have to hear her finish as we ran over to the adjoining kitchen. Obviously, we love Oreos. So does Namine...Heck, the whole world loves Oreos. If anyone doesn't, they're freaking inhuman, I swear. And when we were younger, Roxas, Axel, and I always had dipping contests to see who could eat the most of soggy Oreos during that time. We would do it again, because it was nostalgia and plain fun.

"K, I'm on my sixth one. Which one are you losers on?" Roxas joked with a sneer, sticking his tongue out at us.

"Now, it's sixth, you moron," I joked back.

"Fifth, halfway done. Done," Axel bragged through a mouthful.

Namine, being a girl (meaning she was sane) and all, chose not to participate in this contest. She just giggled but rolled her eyes, since she was eighteen, and she had to be the "mature one" at all times.

"You guys...are the weirdest. Next, I suppose you'll all want to play _Guitar Hero _together again like you used to."

Shaking his head immediately, Roxas replied, "Nope. Don't think so. _Guitar Hero_'s not that cool any more."

Holding back quite a bit of laughter, I swallowed the sixth Oreo while my friend was otherwise distracted. "Hurry up, man! One minute left, and this is make it or break it time. Let's see—oh my God, Axel?"

Cuz, of course, Axel had plunged three cookies in his glass of milk at the same time and put each of them in his mouth as fast as possible. Basically, he broke the one at a time rule we had all made up as kids.

"Cheater!" Roxas yelled, stuffing yet another Oreo into his mouth. "How did I know you'd do that?"

Axel grinned, revealing crumbs on his teeth. "Because I'm a dirty, rotten scoundrel."

After she glanced at the clock, Namine actually encouraged our madness by yelling, "Thirty seconds!"

Five more cookies were eaten before she told us, "Time!"

"Nine for me," I announced. "How about you, Rox?"

"Seven. Kind of pitiful for me, actually," he grimaced. "Axe?"

"Ten! Read 'em and weep, haha!"

To say the least Axel quite enjoyed himself and the idiocy of his cheating. My little sis dubiously looked at the mostly empty package.

With an aggrieved sigh full of longing, she groaned, "I seriously hate your contests. With you guys, it's like having three older bros in the house instead of one. Two Oreos! Two! Thanks a lot, guys."

I gave her the thumbs-up. "Any time, sis."

"No, seriously, stop." She gave us a _look_ and nabbed the Oreos remaining. "Let's see which one you gets sick first."

As soon she pouted her way out of the kitchen, the three of us crazy guys stared at each other and laughed like hyenas. God, I'd missed them! And they had definitely missed one. Maybe this weekend wouldn't be so bad after all.

Good times, good times all around.

* * *

**A/N: For some reason, it seems to me I have the useless talent to write guys very well in KH fics. I have no idea why. XD OK, maybe I do, since I'm a bit of a tomboy myself. By the way, I have nothng against _Mona Lisa Smile. _I actually thought that movie was kinda good.**


	7. Good Times are Rollin'

**A/N: I'm aware no one reviewed the last chapter. Fine by me, I guess. The problem is I haven't been updating this story as often as I should. My life has been busy this year. But, good news is tomorrow is my last day of stupid junior year, yeah! And I'm gonna be a senior! I still have mixed feelings about that, though. Let's check in on the world of Demyx.**

**Disclaimer: I have no ownership over KH.**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Good Times are Rollin'**

That night, while Roxas decided to spend the night over at Axel's place (even if Axe still lived with his mom), I was watching yet not watching TV. _2012 _was on one of the cable movie channels, and it wasn't that great to me. Better than that in-flight movie from earlier, but I still wasn't that fond of it. Mom and Namine bonded downstairs by watching _The Notebook _again. No thanks. It's been on TV so much that you'd think it would lose its weepy affect by now. Not so to Mom and sis, two crazy women. I chuckled before switching the channel to _The Hangover_. At this time, I decided that maybe I should call Aer to see what she was up to and if she was _missing me_, hm?

Taking out my cellphone from my pocket, I dialed her cell number, which I had memorized by heart at this point. I hoped she was OK. One ring, two rings...Ah, she finally picked up!

"Demyx, how are you? How's the visit?"

Her soft spoken voice always made me smile. "Couldn't be going better. Maybe if you were here, it would be even better."

"Sappy," she responded teasingly.

Aerith, Aerith, Aerith Gainsborough, always full of pleasant surprises. For someone so sweet, she could be so sarcastic.

"That's all I have on hand right now. What are you doing, speaking of which?"

"Oh." A pause. "Oh, um, reading actually."

"What book?"

"..._Pride and Prejudice_."

I nodded. "Ah, old school reader, huh?"

She laughed slightly. "Yeah, I guess you'd say that. Do you read?"

"I'm not much of a reader," I admitted. "More of a music man, ya know?"

Duh, of course Aerith would know that by now, I scolded myself for technically no apparent reason. Maybe my obsession with music would put her off. No, no, think only happy thoughts! Happy thoughts and pixie dust—that's all you needed to fly. Hm, that sounded like a drug reference. Ha, whatever.

"Yeah, I guess music would be more time consuming. Did you hear any good songs on the way there?"

I chuckled softly. "Yeah, definitely. I shouted 'Freebird' when it came on...and then I sang along to it."

"Typical." But, she was laughing, too.

She didn't mind my passion for music, considering she was such a patient, sweet person. I couldn't remember a time when she did lose patience. Her angelic face seemed to appear constantly pleasant without her being overly flustered about any one thing. Aerith amazed me. She could probably amaze anyone. I wondered why I hadn't brought her over to meet the family and the friends. What did I have to be scared of? They would absolutely love her. I guess I knew why. It was because the hometown visit could jinx things. Like, maybe two months after that, she would break up with me. Fate worked in mysterious ways.

"I have a feeling you're thinking too much right now," she said softly, soft as the flutter of a butterfly's wings. "Mind telling me what's up?"

I shrugged, feeling really tired for some reason. "I regret not bringing you over. But, I thought it would jinx things."

There was this long pause during which I held my breath, nervous about how she was going to respond to this. Obviously, I thought I had pissed her off, because—my luck—it would be the thing to tick chicks off.

"I totally get it. I was that way too with my ex. Like I said, though, he cheated, so I took what happened as a sign. A sign he would never have been for me even after seeing his relatives. I get it, Demyx. It's too soon anyway."

Phew, was I glad she agreed with me! It wasn't like we were going to get married any time soon. Especially since we didn't know if we would reach an end or another beginning. I settled back on my bed, staring at those rock band posters that were still there. They pretty much were the wallpaper from AC/DC to Metallica to the Ramones. I remembered when I practiced guitar up here every day, playing that easy tune of "Smoke on the Water" to overachieving by trying out "Kashmir." Yeah right, like I could ever have been that skilled. I dreamed too far and too big in those days. That involved my fantasy of jumping off a stage to join a mosh pit.

"Yeah." I finally got back to reality. "Yeah, you're right. We'll need a lot more time together. I miss you."

"Miss you here, too. Darcy can't hold a candle to you."

I snorted with laughter. "Yeah right, if he's British..."

"He can be Japanese for all I care, and I'd still pick you."

"Awww, my sweet Aerith, can I compare thee to a ballad's chord?"

She laughed cutely. "No, no, Demyx, just be yourself. You're cool like that, and that's why I...I really like you. Goodbye for now."

"Yeah, bye," I murmured, waiting until she hung up before closing my cell.

Well. This was something to think about. I swore to God Aer was on the verge of confessing her love to me. But, probably no thanks to that jerk who broke her heart, she dreaded saying those words again. I valued her a lot more than her ex did. I was so sure of that. She started to mean a heck of a lot to me, and if she was here now, I could have held her forever. All right, so the bearded dude on TV wearing the baby carrying thingie, hilarious. Suddenly, I wasn't in the mood for comedy. At all. I was more in reflection mode, looking deep inside myself for answers and stuff. Needless to say, that wore me out the most, cuz I fell asleep without realizing it.

* * *

"Same old boring small town with the only thing to do but go to the same old bowling alley," Roxas sighed before taking his turn.

The three of us decided to go bowling that afternoon (with me waking up at nine to suggest it to Roxas, who was barely awake at 9:30, and Axel didn't get the memo til almost 12:45) as a male bonding thing. That, and we hardly knew what else to do. I just recalled how much this town did suck, even with friends and relatives. Nothing to do, nothing to see. Probably explained why our grade also had a lot of weed smokers sucking on joints like candy.

I snacked on mozzarella sticks while shouting toward him, "Gutter!"

Sure enough, since Rox was none too good at bowling, his swirly patterned blue bowling ball fell into the gutter halfway.

Axel came back from the snack area, holding a Pepsi. "Fail!"

"Like you could do any better, Red?" Roxas asked him.

"Uh, _hell _yeah! Watch this."

Axel managed to get his second strike in a row, getting a double.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Damn it, Axe, make the rest of us look bad!"

He smirked like a cat that ate a canary. "You two are amateurs. I'm the king of the pins."

Roxas leaned over toward me where I sat on one of those weird lane seats and hissed in my ear, "More like king of the dumbasses."

"Wow, Rox," Axel drawled, taking a long drink of Pepsi. "Any louder, and I could have heard it from the other side of the alley."

"I need to put you in your place, man." Roxas grinned while I finally got up to bowl myself. We were almost done with the eighth frame with Axel leading with 115, Roxas with 71, and me with a pathetic 58. I swore to God that I wouldn't get a strike, because I had only gotten spares, after all. And even then, I got two. And then two gutterballs, but at least that was all. I couldn't degrade myself further than that, couldn't stand it.

"I'm gonna redeem myself now, guys," I assured them over my shoulder, lifting my purple bowling ball carefully. Hm, how was I gonna aim this thing? It had to be a good frame for me.

Nothing could ruin this for me now. Noth-_ing_. Yep, I made this out to be so intense, but I took my bowling very, very seriously. OK, I only kidded about that, but I wanted to feel a little bit better about my skill...or lack thereof. There had to be some sort of formula for rolling the ball at just the right angle down the lane. But, then again, I've always hated math, and my grades from high school reflected that. Well, whatever, I needed to get the ball rolling already.

So, I executed the ideal form, practically sliding on my knees on the way down after getting rid of the ball. It rolled fairly quickly down, and oh my God, it was looking good for me.

It wiped out all the pins but one off to the far left side. Great.

"Ohhhh," I groaned, getting a mozzarella stick out of the box. "I was thisclose, guys! This frickin' close, argh!"

Axel shrugged. "Some guys just weren't meant to get strikes, dude. Relax."

Roxas pretended to roll his eyes while doing me the favor of punching him in the arm. "Those are the words of a real caring friend, Axe."

"Caring's for _Sesame Street_. Can I at least be honest?"

"Try being less honest next time," I said sarcastically, nearly venomous yet not. According to my friends, I took too innocent to pull off a good mean face. Just as well, I guess—I couldn't technically see myself as mean.

Axel smirked before that smirk faded. He looked toward the other side of the alley, where a bar was in an enclosed area. Basically, this was your average redneck bowling alley that started providing Budweiser around nine o'clock at night or so. Roxas and I exchanged a glance, reading each other's minds.

"Let's get out of here," I hissed, worried that Axel would go over there.

The next thing we did was more of the nostalgia variety, which was getting ourselves over to the park nearly on the other side of town. We used to play there all the time when we were around six years old. We pretended to be superheroes who could fly, cowboys who could really shoot 'em up, and aliens taking over the galaxy. Those were the days, innocent and carefree before _responsibilities _and _money _and stuff like that concerned adults. Being an adult was difficult, especially if you had to look after friends more than willing to get drunk. Whatever, that incident at the alley was far behind us now, even if we never did get to finish our game.

That's OK, Axe would have won anyway.

We listened to classic rock all the way there, holding sing-a-longs in Axel's car. It was his baby, that Chevy car that I can't really put a model name to. Like I said before, I suck with stuff like that and get confused real easily over them. I wasn't that much of a mechanic or up on things like that. After all, there was that stupid Allstate job to worry about.

"'Dream on, dream on, dream until your dream come true'," Axel and Roxas sang at the top of their lungs with Axel adding, "Come on, Dem, sing!"

I smirked. "Yeah sure, since you guys are so off-key."

"'Dream on, dream on, dream on...Dream on, dream on, dream on, AHHHH'!" we all squealed, trying to see who could do the best Steven Tyler scream impression. I won.

"Pitiful!" I told them while messing with Axel's hair (he was driving) and attempting to give Rox a noogie. "How old are you guys? Fifteen? You guys' voices cracked so bad, seriously!"

Roxas crossed his arms. "Well, Jesus, Dem, we can't all sing as incredibly, as wonderfully, and—really, honestly—as beautifully as you. You have the voice of an angel! You sing like a bird. Like. A. Bird!"

"We love you, Demyx." Axel pretended to be all lovey-dovey. "We're your lovers."

I choked on this lump that randomly got into my throat just then, since Axel was one arm hugging me, and Roxas was hugging the back of the seat I sat at. God, they were so weird! Obviously, this was the type of people that seemed compatible with me. And hell, I didn't mind having lunatics fro friends. Part of this checklist I have for potential friends: must be insane, clinically maybe.

"Uh, guys, I know you...uh, _love _me." I eased Axel's arm off me. "But, I'm not looking for spouses, thanks."

"Spouses with an _s_?" Axel asked. "Legal in Utah!"

"Not true, man, that's a lie the government made up," Roxas joked.

While we approached the small parking lot of the park, specifically near the playground, my redheaded friend fake gasped. "Not the government! Jeez, Rox, where are we gonna have the honeymoon?"

I almost started laughing. "Give it a rest, guys, seriously! But, in that case, Hawaii."

"No," Roxas whined. "Niagara Falls."

"And I want Vegas, so you dudes' opinions don't matter. _Epic _fail right there! Frickin' epic! All right, we're there. Now get me an ice cream cone, Demyx."

As soon as he parked the car safely, I banged my head against the dashboard, at a complete loss. "Axel, no. Please don't do this to me."

"Bitch, get me a chocolate ice cream cone _now_. Or I'm gonna throw a fit. Or else."

Roxas and I just bust out laughing at the moment, because we knew Axel wasn't for serious. It could have been his ADHD or whatever, but he was one funny guy. It almost made me wonder when he was for serious, and when he was, how scary that would be. He treated _life _like a joke, duh, and he seemed to see himself as a walking punchline. He would self-deprecate himself shamelessly in front of us with a big grin on his face. It sometimes, kind of...disturbed me. Or maybe it was fright.

Meantime, Axel plopped himself down on one of the swings, and it surprised me how well his butt fit on the seat.

"Swing me!" he begged of us.

Roxas clicked his tongue. "You're twenty-one, Axe. You're a big boy who can swing himself. But hey, be immature for all I care."

Just to be ironic, I shouted, "I'm going down the slide! Yay!"

"Kids!" Roxas said to be insulting.

Hypocrite as he was, though, he got on the slide after me, and then we swung Axel on the swing but to the point that he fell off. We were "mean" to him like that.

Meh, I don't know. There was just something so...fun about this random trip we took to the park. We could forget that we were legal adults for half an hour at least and act like we were kids again. I missed childhood. I wouldn't (couldn't) lie about that, even to myself. Yeah, I didn't have a dad around—never even met the man or wanted to—but I wasn't the only one. Heck, Axel grew up without knowing his dad too well either. Roxas got lucky in that deal, but it wasn't like we resented him for it. If anything, we all played together without thinking of parents too much. So, that day out on that playground proved to be so worth it.

Axel drove us back to my house to eat some of Ma's good cooking, and that evening's meal was lobster. Yep, lobster, my mom could get pretty inventive and not cook the traditional dinners. But, that was what I could partially owe my cooking skills to. Besides, doing this at home was way better than Red Lobster any time. Namine joined us, and we dudes talked about our day with them. They looked at us like we were insane.

"You guys...Why do I even know you?" my sis asked us.

Axel leaned back on his chair, arms wrapping around his head. "Just lucky, I guess. In fact, Nam, you're _so _lucky, you have no idea."

"Oh, really? Ate all my Oreos yesterday, y'know."

We laughed together...Everyone at the table did. It felt like home to me.

* * *

**A/N: I have no idea why I had Demyx, Axel, and Roxas converse like that like they did in the car then in the park. My mind was crazy that day. Also, I'm starting to believe I have a useless talent for writing male interaction conversations in which the insanity ensues. And the cussing. I apologize to you who like your stories clean. For some reason, I cannot resist doing this in every story of mine. It's horrible! Well, I doubt the Alice in Wonderland one-shot had cursing (in fact, I know it didn't) but anyway...**

**So, yeah, pretty insane chapter. BTW, the whole bowling alley thing pretty much sums up my hometown as well. Nothing else to do but bowl. Don't get me wrong, bowling's fun...It's just if that's one of the very few recreational things you can do in your town, it's just plain sad.**

**Offer me your reviews and your criticisms. I won't take flames, because that's just a way of people being jerks.**


	8. It's Wonderful

**A/N: Whoa, new format...This is going to take some getting used to. Anyway, here's a date chapter. I didn't want to make TOO many of those, and here's why. Three or four years ago, there was this TV movie on ABC Family called "Princess." So, you're thinking fantasy, right? Wrong! Pretty much most of the movie comprised of the two leads going on dates. Lame! So, I vowed to never do that with a story of mine. **

**Explanation time over. Here's the disclaimer: I don't own KH.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: It's Wonderful**

Winter came and went. I know you're probably all groaning about why I skipped whole months in my story. Well, for one thing, nothing much happened over those months other than more dates and more family visits. For another, I've always hated winter, and New York City did nothing to improve it, only made it worse. There was a big nor'easter in the middle of December that dumped seven inches of snow on us. Watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV (NYC tradition) makes you so psyched for Christmas. Then, you forget about the snow, the white shovels-full of it. So, though I Christmas window shopped for the family, friends, and Aer, I didn't enjoy wading through it. The _crunch-crunch_ sound under my feet did not make me happy. Pfft, hardly.

Mr. Asshole—I mean, Xaldin—at least found it in the depths of his normally soulless black heart to give me a X-mas bonus. It was good enough to buy a cute necklace for Aer and the other presents for everyone else. Aerith and I, speaking of which, were still working a lot and barely scheduling for dates. Whether it was Chang's or Flaming Hearts, it was basically where we went. We hardly ventured outside that neighborhood for anywhere else, because it snowed so damn much. It's the Northeast, so you about have to expect that...as much as you despise it.

The best part about that winter was that it ended like all the other ones. It must have been global warming or whatever, but it turned absolutely perfect in March for a change. Christmas trees were on clearance sale, and people appeared to be enjoying walking outside again, me included. Work commute wasn't as God awful that way. The sun said hello, flower buds slowly showed up, we were dancing in the stree—right, getting cheesy here. Speaking of cheesy, "Aerith's Song" (working title) went along at a very slow, gradual pace. I had had to change the chorus half a dozen times, since I was tempted to spit on my notebook half the time. Work dragged, and I miraculously had no trouble from the Fax Machine from Hell since last fall. Lucky me.

I called Aerith to plan our next date in early April after I got a cab. Sadly, it wasn't the Cash Cab. Why did that show have to get cancelled? Screw Chicago for the spin-off. I would love to get some money through answering random trivia questions, even though I'd get half of them wrong. Too bad I didn't get out much, no thanks to work and the need for sleep to get ready for that job of fun. Anyway, I listened to a charming Italian-sounding tune called "It's Wonderful" (my guess anyway) as a ring tone until she picked up. I could hear that pretty smile in her voice.

"Hey, Demyx! How are you?"

Wow, so glad to see my phone number pop up on her cell, she was in such a good mood. She always was. Yeah, we had one fight, but that had been a combo of winter blues, cabin fever, and our jobs bringing us down. We apologized through cellphone two hours after our fight. Sad thing was, I cried harder than she did, because I had downed half a bottle of wine I bought from the grocery store. So, I had been kinda buzzed and top it off with sadness...Well, whatever, it was cool between us after that. I couldn't tell ya what the fight had initially been about either. Present day, I perked up in the cab seat.

"Great, Aer, frickin' awesome!" I was quite enthused.

That chemistry between us remained intact throughout all these months, and my amazement at it lasting wore off. I mean, if we could survive the harsh winter months, we could get through anything. Not to mention we both liked to consider ourselves eternal optimists.

She laughed gently. "Well...Dem, I was wondering if maybe we could hang out at my apartment this weekend, like, watch a movie or something."

Uh-oh...Uh-oh, because I abruptly had "Little Red Corvette" stuck in my head. In my defense, I'm a guy, OK? And as a guy, we tend to all have perverted thoughts, see, some more than others.

"Sure," I told her, nodding, as if she could see that. "Um, by the way, what's that song on your new ring tone?"

"Ah, you noticed! It's off the _No Reservations _soundtrack."

I glanced unsurely out the cab window. "Say what?"

"You've never heard of that movie?"

"Uh, no."

"Hm, you probably wouldn't, since it is a chick flick."

And she got that right for $400. I wasn't one of those guys who watched chick flicks with his mommy. Are you kidding? My manhood would feel threatened.

The cab unfortunately stopped at either an extremely long red light or horrendous traffic, because the driver started cussing.

I sighed, "So, let me guess. You're gonna make me watch a chick flick."

"You bet."

"How many do you have?" I asked, preparing for a devastating answer.

"About half of my DVD collection. Come on, Demyx, I know you're probably worried that I will cry. Believe me, I won't. We'll watch a comedy."

Hopefully, it wouldn't be anything Julia Roberts. I was still miffed at that in-flight movie for being disappointing.

Hm, I could bring over dinner too, to give her a taste of my classic Italian style of cooking. OK, maybe I wasn't that artsy enough in cooking to be called that, but I figured she would love it.

"How about I bring dinner over?" I suggested, a grin tugging at my lips. I only hoped that I wouldn't offend her, in case she wanted to cook instead. Besides, would it matter? We had eaten neither of each other's cooking before. Just because I would be the first one...

After thinking for a bit, she agreed, "OK, sounds good. See you Saturday at six."

"Yeah, see you, too." I shut the phone, already psyched for that day.

* * *

I had done it. After nearly two hours of slaving over a hot stove, I finished my famous Picardi recipe of spaghetti and meatballs. I added some pretty rad spices like oregano, rosemary, sage, and a tiny bit of nutmeg (yeah, nutmeg, I know) in my sauce. Dang, it was gonna be so amazing!

If Aerith did not go crazy over the homemade food, I would go home that night feeling like a failure. Even though I was a dude, heck with it, I didn't care. I _had to _impress my girl, even though a woman's heart is probably in her heart. Just sayin'. So, before heading over to Aerith's apartment, I dished out as much of the spaghetti as I could into a plastic container with lid. There, prepared for delivery.

It wasn't so much me being clueless about where the actual apartment complex was. I was stupid enough to forget her apartment number. Me + math=not mixing. Kapish? I approached the dude at the front desk to ask, and soon, I headed up over to 2A. I wasn't lazy enough to take the elevator there.

"Guess who came to dinner...brought it, I mean?" I asked through her closed door.

I heard her laughter on the other side, though I swore my joke failed.

"Hello to you too, Dem," she greeted me as she opened the door, looking more or less casual this time. She wore a pair of jeans that I noted flattered her butt nicely (I'm a guy, remember?), a teal V-neck T-shirt, and the necklace I got her for X-mas. Aw, cute!

This was one of the many things I liked about her: her sentimentality. No other girl could surely be half as sentimental as her—at least, from all the girls I'd encountered.

"So, shall we enjoy a nice Italian dinner or what?" I asked, trying to flash my million dollar grin. I noted the slight blush on her cheeks, too.

She shrugged. "Sure, why not? I didn't plan on eating anything else."

See? She had perfect faith in my cooking already, so that was the level of trust in our relationship. It was un-freaking-believable. And, um, so was the spaghetti in case you wanted to know. We both liked it quite a bit. I had to admit to myself that I made great meatballs, using Mom's recipe that had been passed down over a couple of generations. And Aerith added a special touch to them by adding a bit of Parmesan cheese. Mm, no wonder people used pasta for romantic dinners all the time. It was a cliché, but hey, it was one that worked so I'd say it was pretty consistent.

"Dem, you really outdid yourself," she told me softly, playing with the strand of spaghetti around her fork.

I shrugged, though God, I wished I had made more of those spicy meatballs. Holy crap, I was epic at cooking them and making them taste delicious!

"Thanks. Actually, thank my mom. She taught me how to cook, after all. Otherwise, I'd be like my good friend Roxas and eat Ramen noodles all the time."

Aer giggled. "I could not imagine doing that. They're too salty."

"Uh-huh. I personally never liked them but more power to Rox for surviving on them. I noticed you really liked the meatballs. I used to think you would be the vegan type."

"I admit I tried the whole vegetarian thing," she confessed, finishing off her last meatball. "But, I couldn't handle it. I grew up loving T-bone steak."

Judging by the interior of her apartment, I really thought she would be one to be strictly healthy. No meat, no junk food, you know? Speaking of the interior, it was a nice, cozy place that was just home. The kitchen we ate in had a smooth wooden floor, and the cabinets looked new. The living room that adjoined to it had all sorts of comfy cushions, probably for yoga. A bookshelf stood by the 42-inch screen TV, filled with her beloved classic novels, _Chicken Soup for the Soul _books, and quite a few books on gardening. Books on flowers, on topiary, on feng shui even, and on Zen gardening. I always thought Zen gardens were pretty cool, too. Aerith was definitely a spiritual sort of person. Not religious but really...in-tune with herself, I guess.

An empty teapot stood on the coffee table between the plush red sofa and the TV. Obviously, a big tea person, whereas I dependently drank my coffee. Everything about her place looked all tidy, clean, and just nice. It all represented the girl I was dating. I had to say that I liked what I saw.

After I finished my spaghetti and done drinking my Pepsi, I made eye contact with her again. She calmly smiled at me.

"I want to show you something. But, we'll have to take the elevator to get to it."

Uh, what? "Um, OK...Sure. What is it?"

She pretended to roll her eyes. "It would ruin the surprise. Just come up with me."

So, as soon as I said OK, Aerith practically dragged me out of my chair to head over to the elevator. Wow, she was sure excited, and it almost made me wonder what the big deal was. What confused me even worse was that she pressed the button to the very top floor. Unless there was something in a storage room she wanted to show me, I had no idea why we went up so high. Then, after she opened the door that led up to the top of the complex itself, I was in for a treat. Sprouts grew under these glass panes that you usually saw on a greenhouse. It was one of those rooftop gardens that I'd heard about. I thought this was amazing.

"Whoa," I murmured, still surprised that I would actually get to see one of these. Well, that explained the lily in her hair that she wore one time at that date at Flaming Hearts. Or maybe it didn't. She could have just bought it at a flower shop or something. She did tell me one time about her love for flowers, but I just had no idea it was so strong that she would be this ambitious over gardening. Well, at any rate, that explained all those books she had on the subject.

Suddenly, she stepped in front of me, probably to pull me out of a daze. "Do you like it? What do you think of it?"

"Awesome...When did you do this?"

"About six months after I first moved in here." She sat up on the ledge of the building.

The wind blew through her braided hair, causing the strands to frame her innocent yet undeniably beautiful face. She looked like she was dreaming of the time when she first moved to New York, a simpler time when she had big dreams that would be as big as mine. There was a quiet confidence with her, content with being here...and with me. The setting sun hit her eyes just right, light playing perfectly off her luminous green eyes. If this wouldn't cure my songwriter's block, I wouldn't know what would. Everything looked perfect to me from Aer's eyes to the colors of the sunset.

"Where were you originally from, Aer?" I asked her, not that that mattered a whole lot. It just wasn't something that meant much in the grand scheme of things.

The dreamy glaze in her eyes disappeared as she responded, "Some small town in Michigan, pretty obscure if you ask me. I would have given anything to be out of that place. My...my ex-boyfriend had been my one way ticket out of here."

I sat down beside her, looking out beyond toward the skyline. "So, you followed him?"

She sighed, shifting slightly in her sitting position. "Basically. And I always wanted to live in New York anyway. We shared an apartment while I went off to nursing school. He went to college. And then he chea...It was over within six months."

I shook my head. "Sounds like a real winner, whoever this guy is."

Aerith appeared really sad for a minute there then, so I could tell she wouldn't give details as to the rift in her relationship that led to the cheating. It didn't matter. He cheated, he was an asshole for it, and that was the end of that.

"How about that movie?" I suggested, to take the intensity out of the situation.

She half-grinned despite the sadness of her memory. "Ah, that chick flick."

"I would have preferred a horror movie to protect you from those big, scary monsters."

"Demyx." She patted me on the shoulder as she moved on past me. "I'm a big girl. I can fend for myself, you know. I took tae kwon do classes."

I shrugged. "Oh well, I tried."

I followed her back to her apartment and into her bedroom where she mentioned she kept all her DVDs. There hadn't been enough room on the living room shelves, she said. Like with her books, the DVDs were fairly organized on a set of shelves in her room. I looked at her bed for five seconds before turning my head away really fast. I'd been in the gutter a lot lately. So, I lived back in the now and watched Aer pull out a DVD from one of the three rows. I even noticed she had Disney movies like _The Lion King _and _Hercules_.

"I loved that movie," I admitted, pointing to her copy of _Hercules_.

"I've always thought it was cute. Even though it got it wrong, it got me into Greek mythology."

That much was true, especially since there were so many affairs in those Greek myths. Hell, I bet that Hercules himself cheated a time or two. Or eighty.

I followed her out to her living room. "So, what are we watching?"

"_Love Actually_."

"Oh God," I moaned. "That sounds so incredibly sappy. It's probably lame, too. I don't know about this, Aer."

"Trust me, Demyx. There is actually some legitimately crude humor in this movie. You'll be surprised. Here, let me pop it in."

After she inserted the DVD into the player, I jumped up on the sofa with her following. She immediately curled herself up beside me, and I couldn't resist putting my arm around her. The smile that was already on her face widened, and then we snuggled. God, and we had just barely gotten to the DVD menu! I was curious what would happen once we reached the kissing scenes.

But, we needed a snack first.

"Hey," I whispered in her ear. "You got anything like microwavable popcorn or snacks like that?"

Looking up at me with those sweet eyes, she said, "I got some Orville Redenbacher earlier this afternoon. I came prepared."

I put in one back of popcorn at a time for the two of us before I settled myself back on the couch to watch the movie. I was surprised, of that Aer had been right. I mean, I found myself really liking _Love Actually _and would venture to say that it was my favorite chick flick. I wasn't technically of the belief that guys could have chick flicks for favorite movies, but this one was too funny. It had me laughing at random scenes I wouldn't expect in a movie like that.

A night in with Aerith turned out to be one of the best nights of my entire life due to the fun we indulged in. I couldn't believe how much I laughed when I was only around her. Hm...I could live like this forever.

Once the end of the movie faded out with some old Beach Boys song (a pretty decent one, actually), Aerith turned off the DVD player. I sighed, almost wishing that the movie didn't have to end. Especially since we did a lot of snuggling toward the end. Never thought I'd end up the cute-sy type of guy but oh well. There are some things in life you become without meaning to.

I commented good-naturedly, "Wow, so that movie did surprise me, after all. I couldn't believe half the parts in it...like all the parts with that washed-up musician."

She smiled a bit smugly, as though she knew all along that she would convert me to this movie. "I figured you would like the character. He's probably the funniest one out of all of them."

"And then when the Prime Minister mentions _Harry Potter _as one of the great things about England..."

"That, too. It was a great movie date tonight."

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad you came up with that idea."

Aerith only clasped her hands modestly, though I think the expression on her face was way prouder than before. Yeah, so my girlfriend managed to persuade me into liking one chick flick. So what? I had another idea in mind.

"I got a proposition for you," I told her as I mosied over to the kitchen to help myself to some grub. "Next date will be at _my _place, and we'll watch an _action _movie."

"Hm," Aer mused. "As long as it's...something like..._Lord of the Rings_."

"Nah." I grinned. "I was just kidding. We'll compromise about what movie to watch next. Any genre as long as it's not a documentary or anything boring."

Finally, after some rummaging around, I got a bit of cheese to eat. Heck with it, I was one for the simple things. Her apartment already felt like a second home to me. Was that weird at all? It made me sound like a soon-to-be-moocher crashing at her place.

Before I would leave her place, I decided to bring up the topic of her gardening, because it must have been with her as music was with me. It wasn't her actual job but probably her dream job. After all, it must be worth more than winning nice blue ribbons at the county fair.

I ate some of the cheddar as I asked, "So, Aer, what got you into gardening?"

That dreamy look was back on her face. "My mom. She owns a flower shop still, back where I used to live. I would help out there on weekends. It was my favorite thing to do. What got you into music, Demyx?"

Well, I could have said that she inspired me to get into cheesy Bon Jovi-esque rock ballads. As for music playing in general, though, the answer was simple.

"Just...wanting to be like all those other rock stars from decades past. And it's been something I love to do. Easy as breathing, like I usually say."

I ate the rest of the cheddar block, adding, "I better go. Even if tomorrow is Sunday, I don't want to keep you up over a guest all night."

"Oh, come on, Dem," she murmured softly, tugging at the collar of one of my dressier shirts. "You are more than a guest to me. We're dating, right?"

OK, so we shared one goodnight kiss or two or four before all was said and done. Chemistry started to boil over with us, hot and boiling and bubbling.

* * *

**A/N: I feel like I'm one of very few people who has made a Cash Cab reference. Yay! XD But, it really was a bummer that the original show didn't last. Oh well, that's what re-runs are for. Also, I will defend No Reservations as its being a good movie. I don't listen to movie critics most of the time anyway. It's a good chick flick if you like food. A lot. XD**

**Not much else to say here, the chapter was pretty self-explanatory.**


	9. Confronting the Ex

**A/N: Ah, now here's a momentous chapter for ya. XD Nothing much else to say today, so read away.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Confronting the Ex**

A couple weeks later found me making considerable headway with Aerith's song, which I now called "Trapped in her Eyes." Ah, well, good enough for now at any rate. Plus, I changed the chorus, tweaking it in a few places to make it just right, thanks to the new song title. Weird how coming up with the title makes things so much better. It speeds along the process in a way. I continued singing at Flaming Hearts at least three nights out of the week to please the fans. Though I was cliché by singing more cover songs, I did sneak in a couple of original tunes. God, did the crowd love that and me! Speaking of love, things had been great with me and Aer. Every night on the phone until we fell asleep...That was devotion.

I called Axel, Mom, and Namine occasionally to catch them up to speed on how everything was going. Nothing much changed from day to day, but they appreciated hearing what I had to say on the subject. Axel's tone each time seemed to be increasingly bitter, probably because he was unlucky in love. He was the guy more likely to be saying the pick-up lines that got shot down than be the one to take a girl out on a nice date. Treat her like she was a queen. Be the one to be a huge softie and hug her whenever she wanted to be held. Axel couldn't grasp hold of these things or understand them all too well.

Often as not, I pitied the poor dude for it, especially since that was the type of guy he was deep down. He was just too afraid to show it, knowing that he could be in danger of falling. So, he chose to be this fake guy around women, a resident barfly who couldn't do without his Budweiser or Coors. I felt really bad for him and almost considered setting him up. But, how would that work out? Hm, first of all, he would hate me for it. Then, he'd take it out on the woman in question by being extremely sarcastic.

OK, bad idea. But, he would and should find someone. It seemed to depress him that he was alone except for his mom. His mom was OK but a bit too lax with him. She was more after her needs than her son's. He could get it himself, she said, he's a grown man now. And yet, it was like he was still a kid.

Occasionally, I would be legitimately concerned over Axe and would even call him up to make sure he was OK. He always told me to chill out and don't I have a Flaming Hearts performance to do? Always about someone else now, never himself. That got me suspicious. Then, I just sort of dismissed it and had made up this resolution. If Axel didn't improve by the time I made the next visit, I would go to his house and throw out all his stupid six-packs. Everyone knew how bad they were for him.

Axel aside, my life went along smoothly without too many unwelcome interruptions. That was, until one fateful look in the mirror.

"Damn," I said to my reflection looking kind of discouraged in the bathroom mirror. "Now I know why all the jocks kicked my ass in school."

Yep, I couldn't lie that I had a fairly wimpy build, even to myself. I didn't have the 80's Arnold Schwarzenegger muscles that could probably bend metal...or at least pump iron. If anything, I had skinny arms that every guy musician seems to have for the most part. I didn't look hard rock but indie rock. It was embarrassing. Terrible. A disgrace to my sex.

"I can't believe I'm saying this to myself," I sighed. "But, I need to go to a gym."

Dun-dun-dun, there I went, betraying my musician's soul!

After all, you didn't hear of too many of the music lovers clique at my school working out too much. These were the kids who opted out of taking strength building class in place of PE. These were the kids who got their lunch money stolen when they were little. And these were the kids who would roll their eyes at the jocks while asking themselves so what if our football team makes state or not? My own kind would spit on me.

Oh, big deal, I needed to get fit to be healthy. My body would thank me for it fifty years from now. That was all. It was not to be like a jock. Besides, I was an adult male who would take responsibility over himself.

Luckily for me, some guy at work I talked to mentioned a gym that was just a block and a half away from the office. I started going there after work to lift weights and run on the treadmill. I tried the rock wall but found my fear of heights too overwhelming. In fact, I held onto the damn thing for ten minutes until a trainer offered to help me down. That made me feel degraded enough to forget about doing that again. Jeez, it must have been that traumatic memory of me falling off a tree. I was embarrassed to say the least.

One afternoon/evening, I met a regular who came here.

He came to me, actually, while I ran on the treadmill as the sweat started to soak through my work-out clothes. Ah well, I felt the burn! That was the important thing. If I didn't feel the burn, I wouldn't get the body that Aer wouldn't stop touching. Oh yeah...

"Hey, man, working out heavy duty, I see," a voice, slightly cocky, greeted me. I had to stop the treadmill for a moment to get a look at him.

Oh God, he was built, scarily built. He was about 6'2" and had these _huge _Adonis-like arms. A smirk was on his lips.

Instantly, he reminded me of one of the jocks from school, the type who would beat the crap out of me. What other type was there? Even worse, the guy had better hair than me, black and epicly styled. Great, he looked like a frickin' celebrity, the guy who would play opposite Angelina Jolie in an instant. They would hire him that quick.

Nonetheless, being polite and all, I held out my hand. "Yeah, name's Demyx Picardi."

"Zack Fair." He took my hand and gripped it too tight in the handshake. Yep, this was a dude who would show off his strength whenever he got the chance. I wasn't sure I liked him all that much already.

After we gave out names, Zack ran a hand through his A-list hair. How I wanted to blame that on hair gel. So much.

"So, what brings you to my lair?" he joked, flashing a grin that would have been worth a million dollars. Mine was only worth fifty.

I shrugged. "I thought I looked too wimpy. A guy from work suggested this place to me."

"Mm-hmm...Getting anywhere with the muscle?"

"Meh, not much. I've only been here a few days."

"Interesting. So, where's your work?" he asked, ready to brag, no doubt.

Since I would never tell this Zack dude what my actual job was, I just said I worked at Allstate. Of course, before I could ask him his, he told me that he was in business school. Cornell, to be exact, he got there on scholarship. When not in class, he helped out at a Chrysler car place as a mechanic, since his dad taught him everything he knew. He was quite useful too, the manager told him once. Best compliment he ever received at work. He would major in business and minor in economics.

So, why the hell did he think I'd care?

Suppressing the urge to be all condescending toward him, I cleared my throat and then turned back toward this Zack Fair. "I would have gone to college, but, ya know, economy and I wasn't that great at school."

"Yeah. Yeah, I get it. That sucks, man."

Oh my God, he sounded genuinely sincere. That touched my heart, _not_! Seriously, he rubbed me the wrong way. For some reason, I couldn't quite trust him.

"Hey," he added. "We ought to hang out some time. Tomorrow, same place?"

I fake smiled. "Sure."

I officially hated him. Something was _so _off about him.

* * *

Maybe the problem was that Zack Fair reminded me too much of all the jock guys from school who'd give each other high fives after beating someone up. Either that, or bringing the beers to a party. I supposed I could give the guy another shot. Maybe I had gone about it the wrong way. So, the next day, I met up with Zack at the gym. Together, we lifted weights. Not my idea of male bonding but whatever. Obviously, my idea of male bonding was acting like an immature moron around my friends. But, someone like Zack would spit on that. After all, he was a man of the world, the next connoisseur of the business world.

"What's Cornell like?" I asked him about his college, imagining him boozing it up with the other frat boys.

For someone who was supposed to give him another try, I sure gave him a lot of cheap shots in my mind.

He lifted a big weight like it was nothing. "Pretty cool, I guess. Actually, I thought I'd end up like you and not do the college thing at all."

Well, good golly gee, that was strike one against him. I softly "tsked-tsked", though he didn't hear me. Good. I didn't want to get pummeled.

Then again, if it was based on money, I wouldn't blame him. I considered the real source to be lack of ambition. Whatever. Some guys didn't realize how lucky they were sometimes. Zack seemed to be one of those dudes.

"How much can you bench press?" he asked me.

"Most I ever did was a hundred and fifty."

His lips twitched as he struggled not to laugh. Strike two.

"Me? I can do a whole three hundred, easy."

"Bull." I pretended to tease with my grin.

However, he did manage to prove it to me, so more power to him.

"All right, congrats to you for being able to do that," I told him in "friendly" sarcasm. Which then made me wonder why someone like him would sink enough to try to "be buds" with someone like me. I was definitely baffled at that. I wouldn't be mean to him just yet. All I needed was more time to figure Zack out and see his true colors.

He shrugged in a nearly self-deprecating kind of way. "I guess so, but I personally don't think it's a big deal. Well...the fact that my old man forced me to play sports is probably why I can bench press a lot of weight."

We decided to get to know each other, since we would probably be in the same gym for a while.

We told each other about our backgrounds, how I was from small town New York and he from small town Michigan. Funny, that was where Aer was from. I was curious if they ever crossed each other's paths some time or another. I reluctantly mentioned how I would probably never get to know my dad and that yeah, my parents were definitely split up. Zack said his parents had split too, when he was around ten or so. He had preferred living with his dad, considering he felt like he had more freedom there. He could invite over his friends every day if he wanted to.

"Still, maybe I valued my freedom too much. I went to too many of those high school parties."

What a coincidence! And by that, I meant I couldn't relate to him at all since I had never gone to a high school party once. Graduation didn't count with me, because I knew that it was a given.

Forgetting about what he said (or pretending to), I talked about my close friends and how loyal I was to them. We still kept in touch.

"Lucky for you," Zack told me, chuckling softly. "I don't really talk to my old gang that much any more. College tends to separate people, you know? I have a Facebook, but I know it's not the same."

I patted him on the shoulder. "Yeah, well, not everyone can keep touch with their friends. I don't go to college or have that great a job. That's why I have time."

The subject switched to favorite hobbies just then with Zack admitting that this was pretty much his only hobby at the moment.

"Hobbies are more for old guys. Like my old man. He fishes and plays solitaire on the computer and stuff. When I get the time—eh, enough about me. What do you like to do?"

I grinned proudly once I lifted a hundred pounder. "I play guitar and sing. I originally planned on being a rock musician and—"

"Wow, really? Trying to capture the dream even now, huh?"

"Uh, dude." I still smiled, but I began to get mad. "I perform at a coffeehouse three nights a week if I can. And I get tipped. Handsomely."

Technically, though Zack put up an effort to be open and friendly, I could not win with him. I could tell. There was some sort of arrogance about him that would turn anybody off. I guess some unfortunate few would call it charm, but I wasn't stupid. Nope, I may have been a C student, but grades don't mean anything. OK, kids, that might not be sound advice, but there is still such a thing as street smart. It's so true.

Zack held up his hands disarmingly. "Whoa, Demyx, I didn't mean to offend you or anything. It's just what I've noticed lately with these musician types."

Oh, so I was a type now? Smooth, buddy, real smooth. Gee, who knew a guy could reveal this much about himself in a day? It could be worse.

Next up, we talked about significant others. Since I had quickly become well aware of how much Zack loved to talk about himself, I let him have the floor. He probably had many exploits to put in a novel. Unfortunately, since he was smart enough to earn a scholarship to college, I couldn't say that he was dumb. So, he could write a book.

"I live with this girl right now. Sexy as hell," he half-bragged to me. "Being with her is really exciting. Never a dull moment with her around."

Wow, what a real man to date women he would consider "fun." In my opinion, I wasn't in it for fun. I was in it for love if it would happen. Fun on the side was just a bonus—or, at least, it _should _be.

"My girl Aerith," I murmured, putting down the weight altogether. "She is amazing. I went on many first dates with girls in high school, but the first one with her actually meant something. Funny thing is, I met her at a hospital. She was a nurse intern, checking up on me to make sure I was OK. The rest is history."

Zack's self-satisfied smile disappeared right off his face. "Aerith? You mean Aerith Gainsborough?"

Mr. Ex-Boyfriend finally found at last? How unlucky...for him.

Getting extremely cautious with him, I attempted to figure out what to do next. Here was my moment to defend my girlfriend. I had to take it.

"Yeah. So, are you the...?"

"Yeah," Zack replied gruffly, half-glaring at me. "Not like it would have lasted anyway. These high school flings never last. Besides, Aerith didn't understand that these things will fall apart eventually. She should have gotten the message sooner."

Excuse me? Cheating on your girlfriend should _not _be the message. Whatever it had been, Zack Fair had done something very uncool. Strike three (though technically strike four)!

"I had no idea Aer received a fair warning about whether or not you were going to cheat on her," I said coldly to him to give him a major burn.

Zack's blue eyes widened before he cruelly glared. "Come on, like I was going to stay with her forever? I got kind of bored, to be honest."

"I'm gonna be honest right now, too."

And then, I punched him in the face. For good measure, I kicked him in the crotch to add to his suffering. He deserved it.

"Look, Zacky boy, you don't treat girls like that. Especially my girlfriend! Later, asshole."

I walked out of the gym, feeling a sense of satisfaction.

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**A/N: I bet you all thought the ex was going to be Cloud, didn't you? XD Or Sephiroth even. Nope, I just went with Zack, even though in all the video games he's been in, he's far from the douchey type. So, I guess someone was going to end up just a little bit OOC in this story when it came to who the ex was. The scumbag, low, cheating scoundrel ex. Hope you enjoyed Demyx partaking in some revenge there against the guy. Even though, as I'm basically saying, I have nothing against Zack Fair. I actually think he's a cool character outside of this story. XD**


	10. WakeUp Call

**A/N: This chapter is a bit more serious. I guess that's all I have to say for now.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH.**

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**Chapter 10: Wake-Up Call**

"So, you actually ran into Zack at a gym? And punched him in the face?" Aerith asked with mingled wonder and disbelief.

We were sitting up on the roof of the complex, her drinking some pekoe tea she had just boiled and me chug-a-lugging away on Coke. I seem to like every soda ever invented for some reason, even though my teeth are gonna pay for it. Anyway, I had finished telling the story of my encounter with her ex, how it had gone from not-so-great first impressions to my fist meeting his face.

I scratched the back of my head, chuckling. "And kicked him in the groin. Don't forget that. But, I had to protect milady's honor. Seriously, it was all for you."

Aer looked out toward the wispy gray clouds over the rim of her teacup, her green eyes aglow with what I could guess was laughter.

"Normally, I would think it would be a bad thing," she thought out loud, though added with a small smile, "But, I guess I can make an exception."

I put my hand over hers. "Feel free to. That Zack Fair didn't deserve you after how he treated you. Cheating...God, I can't believe he's still with the chick, too. Well, I don't base a relationship on how a girl looks."

I really didn't. Finding out that Aerith had been cheated on made me realize that.

It was almost weird that she would reveal something that deeply personal early on, even if she didn't mention the guy's name. It did bring us closer together in a way, because I would never do that to her. How could I _think _of doing that to her? She really cared about me and trusted me, two things I valued a lot. I had been nothing but sincere toward her from the very beginning.

"You're really sweet, Demyx," she murmured, her eyes gently gazing at me.

Something stirred within me, probably because there was something about those eyes that I could get lost in. In my opinion, she was the most gorgeous woman I ever met, both inside and out. I could kiss her right now.

My cellphone vibrated against my thigh, since I had turned it off, put it to vibrate, and kept it in my pocket this whole time. I mean, you never know when someone else might need you. It's always a good decision to keep on your toes when it comes to that sort of thing.

I still groaned, though, so close to kissing her! "I'll see who it is."

When I opened my phone, I heard Roxas' voice on the other end. "Dem, dude, something is up! I—I can't...I don't know how to break it to you..."

"What is it, Roxas?"

"It—It's Axel. He got in a car wreck."

"WHAT?" I practically screamed into the cell.

This was what I had been afraid of all along, of Axel going off the deep end and getting involved in something like this. That was why I had kept track of him by making sure to call him up every once in a while. Yeah, I wasn't his dad or a cop, but I had seriously been concerned over my best friend. I only had one of him. To lose him would be one of the worst things on the planet.

"H—How bad?" I started stuttering like Rox.

"I'm at the hospital right now," he replied more calmly, realizing that one of us had to be the cool, collected one. It definitely wasn't going to be me, since I just recently got the news.

He continued, "Luckily, it was only a one-vehicle accident. But...But, he was drunk, Dem, so I'm thinking they'll give him a DUI. He's OK, but he's still in ICU, just in case. Come over as soon as you can, K?"

I nodded, though he wouldn't have seen. "I'm on my way."

Once I hung up, I noticed Aer gazing at me in a worried way this time. Because, after all, screaming out of surprise into your cellphone isn't exactly a good sign.

She didn't ask me what the conversation was about, so I had to tell her.

Reluctantly, while letting out a shaky breath, I let her in on what had happened back home. "My best friend Axel just got in a car wreck. Roxas t—told me he's gonna be OK, but..."

"You want to be sure," Aerith finished for me calmly, though I thought her hands shook slightly with nerves. It amazed me how she could put herself in those situations so vividly. Her compassion was definitely comforting at the moment. Too bad I couldn't take her with me. I didn't want her to meet my family and friends in this way...like this. The circumstance was too scary, too sad.

I patted her hand. "I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow night, OK?"

She gave me an understanding look that really spoke volumes to me, enough to kiss her on the cheek before I rushed out of there. God, I felt so stupid in the meantime, thinking of what I did wrong. I must have failed somewhere in keeping track of Axe, making sure he was OK and that he lived his life all right. It had been only two days since I last called him, and he ended up in an accident. If I had called him up once—just freaking once—even if it was for fifteen minutes in those forty-eight hours, he would have been OK. My guess was that he must have gotten lonely to the point he couldn't take it any more.

That was when he usually drank, too—that extremely anyway to the point that he could be numb. Why didn't he ask someone to be designated driver? He could have taken the safe route as he should have. Why did he insist on living dangerously close to the edge? Did he want to fall? Did he _want _me to feel bad about myself because I couldn't help him in time?

Well, the chilling fact of the matter was that he could have died in that accident if it had involved another vehicle.

But, five thirty in the evening...God, that was early for him to be wasted, to even think about being wasted. At any rate, I could not get to my hometown fast enough, no thanks to New York traffic and the flight after that.

I was at St. Mary's (the local hospital) by around nine thirty or so, when visiting hours would have long been over with. But, since I was begging the receptionist by telling her that I was practically a brother to Axel, I was allowed to see him along with Mom, Roxas, and Axel's mom. Mom told me Namine would have been there too, but she didn't want to at the last minute, afraid that she would see him banged up. And no one wanted to see him all broken like that, least of all me. I would support him by being here, though, to tell him in my way it would be all right. Don't worry about a thing. I would stay at this hospital (one more solemn reason to hate hospitals) as long as he needed me.

Roxas, his face pale and strained, led me to the hospital room where they had put Axel by this time. They had taken him out of the ICU into a more private room for friends and family to talk to him without being disturbed.

"He hasn't said much," he murmured quietly, like raising his voice would interrupt Axel's sleep or something. "He's been pretending to sleep to forget about what happened. I can tell he fakes it. Just...maybe he'll talk to you. I'm glad you got here, Dem."

"Yeah, me too." I walked over toward that uncomfortable bed/cot thing Axel was on.

He had quite a few scratches on his face, and his neck had been placed in one of those foam-like braces. He had broken an arm, judging by the cast it was in, too. And it could have been so much worse. Meaning, it could have been possible that he wouldn't have survived the car wreck. I almost, in a bleak sort of way, wondered what happened to that good ole Chevy. It probably got totaled in the accident, the front of it being all smushed in. Good thing no one rode with him in the passenger seat, right?

I practically got emotional seeing my crazy yet brave best friend so weak. I rubbed a hand against my face to stop the freaking tears from coming. It hurt me so bad to see Axel this down and out.

Cracking one eye open, he asked me, "Hey, Demyx...Dude, is that you? It's you, right?"

"Yeah, man." I cleared my throat, recollecting the time I fell off a bus and ended up in the hospital where I fatefully met Aerith. How funny that had been back then, so far away. I mean, there was humor found in that situation. This one...not so much, especially since it was a DUI. And that had happened out of pain and not out of celebrating.

I blinked back more tears. "So...You OK?"

Axel tried to smirk. "'Course I am. I've been to hell and back."

I had a feeling he was trying to be funny but he failed at it, because how could you find humor in something like this? Then again, this came from someone who had all these anxieties on the way to his injured best friend. I pretty much panicked the whole time, worrying what happened to him and how bad his wounds were.

"What about the car?"

"Totaled in a ditch." Holding back his head, Axel let out a laugh that had more bitterness than humor. I smiled back to cheer him up.

"Better the car than you."

My friend laughed again, more relaxed this time, though moving on with his life would be hell for the next year or so.

"That's true. Hey...Hey, you were right. You are here to say 'I told you so' about me giving up the Budweiser and the Coors and just the alcohol in general. Why didn't I listen to you?"

The tears did fall when I chuckled. "Because you're a dumbass, Axel. You've always been one as long as I can remember. But, that's OK. It will be OK in the long run, remember that."

We paused the conversation to laugh together for a while.

This was technically a sick thing to laugh about, but hell, Axel had unintentionally made a point. If we couldn't heal by keeping it inside, then no one could heal. We needed to feel better eventually. Fisting each other, we pretended that everything was all right. And it was...for the time being.

"So, does this mean what I think it means?" I pulled up a chair toward his bed to sit closer to him. "You're gonna give up the booze?"

Axel nodded, his face slightly more serious now. "I'll probably have to, since they'll send me to AA meetings anyway. Besides, I deserved a wake-up call. I was so depressed earlier...but that isn't much of an excuse."

I noticed his green eyes lowered once he admitted this to me, like he really became ashamed of his actions. Good thing no one else had been involved. I could only imagine what amount of torment he would suffer through then. No more could-have-beens, though. Time to live in the present, I supposed.

"This is my fault." I attempted taking the self-blame from him. "If I had called you more often—"

"Dude." He lifted his head, eyes flashing. "This is not your fault or Roxas'."

Then, realizing that lifting his head was kind of a dumb decision at the moment (neck brace, remember?), he lay back down against the pillow.

"It's mine. I take full responsibility. I'm an adult, after all, might as well show it," he continued, his lips setting in a thin line. "I was too lonely. Community college isn't what's cracked up to be. Dumb old jocks from high school are still there, along with all the other ignorant people. You and Roxas are, like, miles away. There was nothing either of you could do. I wouldn't have listened. Guess I need to make new friends to cart me around next year."

"Not to mention," Axel added, holding up an index finger that was also in one of those metal finger casts. "This has been a very...ah, _sobering _experience."

Spluttering, I burst out laughing at the pun. I couldn't help it.

"Good one," I acknowledged. "By the way, dude, I'm _relieved _that you're willing to stop drinking. Still, if you ever get the urge, you should drink wine instead. Takes way more for you to even get buzzed."

My friend still shook his head. "Nah, not sure if I could risk that. Thanks for the offer, buddy."

Yeah, maybe it wasn't the greatest suggestion in the world—straight-up irresponsible, in fact. Well, there was nowhere Axel could go but up. He had hit his rock bottom, but people could be phoenixes sometimes by rising back up. Inner strength would come through for him.

"Hey, I'm curious," Axel whispered. "Why didn't your little sis show up?"

"She didn't want to see you all banged up. Not to mention it's a school night."

"Yeah." He nodded. "Yeah, I get it."

We were silent, thinking quietly to ourselves and trying to make sense of things. Sometimes, I always figured that life gave you a good, solid kick in the groin just to get yourself straight. This was definitely true in Axel's case. But, it was too bad that he could feel lonely, isolated, and without anyone half the time. Come to think of it, he had been a total lone wolf since graduation.

"Look, maybe I'll set you up with someone some time. Not sure if it'll help with the loneliness issue, but it's worth a try."

Wryly smiling, Axel replied, "Sure, I'd like that."

More than ever, I would do whatever I could for my best friend to set him on the right path again. Surely, he should know that self-destruction ain't the way to go. He had to be enlightened and adjust more optimistically to changes and interruptions in his life. Like I had.

I gently patted the arm not in a cast. "You've got people who care about you a whole lot now. None of us would want you dead. You know, I would hug you right now if I could."

Axel rolled his eyes at me. "And break every friggin' bone in my body in the process. Great idea."

He chuckled with a rasp after that, to show that he was kidding, yet I assumed he kind of told the truth. The wreck did nothing but hurt him, judging by the wincing he struggled to hide every now and again. They must have given him some morphine, though, because there were IVs hooked up to his not broken arm. Yet, he seemed to handle it OK like the fighter and trooper he was. That was what I admired in Axe as a friend. He would fight if he had to due to that bouncing energy inside him.

"These IVs are murder," he groaned, making me realize that he hadn't been complaining too much about the hospital thing until now. "Like, I'm sort of loopy. Barely know what I'm saying...I'll forget this conversation..."

"My cue to leave then." I stood up and took the chair back to where it was in the back corner. "To say the least, though you're overexaggerating about the IVs, get well soon, dude. I'm relieved you're gonna pull through."

Axe smiled genuinely. "Me too, you have no idea."

I did, though. I nearly lost a friend tonight, so I totally understood.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, so the reason I had Demyx and Axel laugh a few times during their, really, somber conversation, was for them to be funny. To be funny in the face of something quite sad, to be honest. It's just their way of coping.**

**Wow, I really can't come up with anything else to say in these author notes today. Well, til next chapter.**


	11. The Song

**A/N: All right, this is the climax of the story, I would say. Maybe even more so than Axel's car wreck. Well, this chapter should contain enough fluff to keep you guys happy. And, since I'm headed off to Omaha tomorrow for a couple days, this chapter will probably have to hold you over until I update the last chapter next time.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

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**Chapter 11: The Song**

I called up Mr. Foley the next morning to ask if I could have a day off in light of the accident. He said OK, but he probably wouldn't do this favor again. Typical Xaldin Foley response, but I supposed it would do. So, I hung out with Axel in the morning when visiting hours began. He pretty much knew that all of us loved and supported him, because we showed it. We told jokes and funny stories to pass the time to forget about the seriousness of his DUI. Roxas and I hung out at Steak and Shake for lunch, then playing video games at his house afterwards until I came home for dinner.

What happened to Axel inspired me to live my life more vigorously and value the people in my life more. Namine and Mom were my family, and when we sat down to dinner, I realized that I would never want to leave them early. Like dying...I wouldn't do anything too dangerous to put my life at risk. And Axel swore to me that he would hardly ever touch liquor again. Maybe he shouldn't have drunk so much to begin with, but he could be redeemed and forgiven. All of us already had, since what had happened to him didn't make him a bad person. Everyone made mistakes and so did he.

Before I left for New York that night, I dropped by the hospital one more time to tell Axel goodbye. He would be out in a couple days, he told me.

"Take care." I patted him on the shoulder. "Don't hurt yourself again."

He snorted with laughter. "Wouldn't dream of it, Music Man."

The in-flight movie sucked even worse than the last one I bothered to pay attention to, a movie called _Legally Blonde 2_. Mmm-hmm, that lousy sequel to the first movie. As a guy, I couldn't freaking stand the excess shallow girliness to the point that I must have lost some brain cells. I called Aer once I got home to tell her details about the visit and that everything was OK. And oddly enough, the call itself became a spark of inspiration.

The next few days, I edited the song until I had to re-write it on a different piece of paper. There were just too many eraser marks on the old sheet, which I ended up throwing away. Aerith's song would be perfect, and it now came with a half-decent title if I did say so myself. I titled it "To My Aer", which—oh, heck with it—better than "Aerith's Song", right? God knew how cliché a title _that _was. Everything about her that I called up to memory seemed to add to the song. Her rooftop garden, her green eyes, her braided light brown hair, her love of tea, and all those little quirks that stood out to me. I knew everything about her and how she had quickly become a part of me.

When I wasn't writing the song, I was thinking about writing it at my dull Allstate job to preoccupy myself. Yeah, the fax machine wasn't evil any more, and I learned to live with the uniform frowns, but this secretarial job didn't satisfy me. I needed to quit some time if I could. If not, well, I did need money to buy food and stuff. The Allstate job would just have to keep until the music thing picked up unless fate had other plans.

I talked to Namine at Subway again, and I didn't care if my cellphone bill would be expensive that month or not.

"Have you gotten to see Axel yet?" was the first question I asked once she picked up. And I think she paused to give Sora a quick recap of Axe's situation before continuing.

"Um...Yeah." I could see her biting her lip. "He got roughed up pretty bad, didn't he?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, but you know how he is. He's a fighter. Besides, it could have been way worse."

"Really puts your life into perspective, huh?" she asked softly.

Out of my friends, Namine was (in case you couldn't immediately tell) closest with Axel. Not in a romantic sort of way but in a close friendship type.

They understood each other on a certain level, despite the blatant personality differences, the way opposites could get each other. So, that was why her worry prevented her from initially visiting him.

"It sure does." I chewed thoughtfully on my meatball sub. "Say, how's school going for you?"

"One more month til graduation, hallelujah!"

"Hallelujah!" Sora echoed obnoxiously on the other end, making Namine laugh and tell him how much of a dork he was. Those kids were gonna make it as far as high school lovers went.

It was nice to know that even after a traumatizing car wreck that could have been so much worse, love could always be found or something else positive. If there's ever a negative, there's a positive to balance it out. This has always been my belief and likely always will.

"How's the song coming along?" Namine asked yet another question, though this one was way important. I had mentioned the song for Aerith when I first talked about her with my family and friends. They'd wondered when I would finish it and sing it to her. I said at the time I had no idea, but now...

I couldn't help myself from bragging as I responded with, "It's almost finished. In fact, it's, like, two words away from being done. I'm rushing, see, cuz I'm going to perform it at Flaming Hearts tomorrow night on my night. You think she'll like it?"

Chug-a-lugging my cup of Mountain Dew, I had this feeling of self-consciousness about what I personally wrote. Along with Aer, twenty to thirty people would be there, listening to my original material. It's not like I hadn't done it before—in fact, I had done it about eleven or so times. But, these were the words that had come straight from my heart, so intimate. She would hear them, too. It was me basically saying I loved her. She had to like the song.

Namine seemed to mull over my insecure question a long time before replying slowly, "Yeah...I think she would. After all, Dem, it came from your heart. And even though the rest of us _still _haven't met her yet, she does love you. I know that for a fact. She appreciates everything good that's in your heart. You found yourself The One, Demyx."

I smiled wryly, licking the sauce off my fingers. "Does that mean somebody has to die now?"

"Oh, ignore stupid Hollywood movies and them saying that true love equals death. Does not. Look at Grandma and Grandpa."

I meant early deaths, like I had been seeing on every lousy movie on TV lately. Flipping through, and boom, there lay some poor young soul dying of cancer. But yeah, our grandma and grandpa were still crazy about each other, even after all their years together. It was a beautiful thing. I believed true love meant growing old together, not one of the couple dying young. No way.

I sighed out of relief. "That's true. Let's hope I don't fall off another bus."

We laughed over something that sounded demented. Sora joined in.

"You didn't even know what the joke was, buddy," I teased him in a big bro to little bro sort of way. "It was actually pretty sick."

"I don't care. I like to hear my girlfriend laugh."

Draining the last of the MD (see what I did there?), I smirked. "How cute. How scrumptious. Gotta go, guys. Later. Oh, and wish me luck."

"Luck," Namine and Sora chimed.

That was eye rolling worthy right there, so that's what that comment received. Of course, they couldn't see it in long distance, but they so should have seen it. Oh well, at least they were being sincere.

Now, I hoped I pulled the performance of my life off.

* * *

"Hey, Aer," I began, observing that she saw me through her peephole. "I'm all out of Tic-Tacs. Do you happen to have any by any chance? Or Altoids, those work just as well. I'm not picky."

This was the night of my public declaration of love for Aerith through song. I had to make it count. Not to mention I had "Everlong" stuck in my head, just to give you an idea about how intent I was. Still, it'd been a while since our little game of "I'm out of this, so do you have it?" was played. Plus, there had to be some random tidbit that I hadn't learned from her then. It was like a treasure Indiana Jones would find.

Luckily for me, as she came out with her purse slung over her shoulder (she wanted to pay for coffee this time), she shook a thing of white Tic-Tacs at me.

"There you go." She tossed it like a baseball, though it struck me in the forehead embarrassingly. "Oops, sorry. Um, yeah, I got to tell you one little thing. I eat my pancakes with cinnamon."

I pinched my forehead while nodding. "That's strange but cute. As long as you don't have it with your veggies, that doesn't weird me out."

She giggled yet slapped at my arm as she walked past me. I rubbed it, pretended it hurt, and then caught up to her to gently slap at her shoulder. And (really immaturely, I might add) we chased each other out of the apartment complex. Some lingering people nearby gave us strange looks, but who cared what they thought?

We were in love, or so I hoped. We could act as weird as we felt like, because we had that excuse. Heck, we had the right. People could judge, but in the end, they were probably jealous of us for a whole number of reasons. Anyway, we walked over to Flaming Hearts, and I swear that Zidane pounced on me the moment I got there.

"Hey, man, heard you're singing a special song tonight. You're needed up there, pronto," he told me excitedly, as though in reality, _he _needed me on stage. Great, not even in here thirty seconds...

"Where'd you hear it?" I asked, crossing my arms.

Zidane grinned a ten million watt smile. "I have my sources. Hint, it was some dude at Subway."

"Oh, perfect," I groaned, palming myself.

Aer patted my shoulder supportively. "It's OK, Dem. Go up there and be the musician I know you are. Besides, whatever the song is, it's good."

Oh, so much confidence in me, and that translated into massive pressure for me. I had to do well or else. My entire relationship depended on this performance, practically hung in the balance.

OK, maybe I was being too overdramatic over this, but can you blame me? Putting your heart on your sleeve is a nerve-wracking experience, no matter if it's in front of one person or several. You have to be pretty fearless about it. Right...I gulped.

"K, Zid, if you insist," I sighed and trudged right onto the stage.

Upon my arrival, I heart quite a few people applauding, regulars who showed up to hear me sing. I enjoyed having a fanbase, because then, you might end up having a career out of it. Or not, but it was still nice. Getting people's support is cool.

Before I could begin the song, Zidane grabbed the mike. "Now, folks, this fellow over here is going to sing just one song tonight"—some groans—"But, this is an original song of his. It's probably different from all the others you've heard. Anyway, enough of my ranting. I present to you once again the musical stylings of Mr. Demyx Picardi, storyteller extraordinaire!"

Holy crap, Zidane sure kept piling on the theatrics every week, which was almost humiliating. But hey, I would take all the promoting I could get. Free publicity, ha!

I shakily stepped over to the mike stand and pulled up the stool. My eyes met Aer's from across the room. She smiled as pretty as one of her flowers.

I could do this. I _would _do this.

"This song goes out to a special girl in the audience," I spoke into the microphone, adjusting Ferris on my lap.

After a shaky pause (come on, man, you've been practicing the song forever), I continued, "But, out of respect for her modesty, I won't mention her name. She knows who she is. I won't single her out."

The audience laughed at that one.

"Well, here it is," I said, and then started to play this:

"_Angel on earth_

_She's so hard to find_

_Once I see her eyes_

_I lose my mind_

_Beautiful when she laughs_

_This is what I have_

_Sparkling green eyes_

_Those endearing smiles_

_That gets chills up my spine_

_She is everything_

_That a man could want and more_

_She is my angel on earth_

_Yeah, she is_

_You see it all the time_

_In the idyllic movies_

_That have those romance scenes so sublime_

_If this is what is real_

_Then, I know this is how I feel_

_And I don't ever want it to end..."_

I repeated the chorus two more times in a clichéd fashion, but the coffee drinkers and the music lovers alike didn't seem to mind. In fact, baring my soul seemed to pay off. Well, duh, some people stood up for a standing O. That's right, a freaking standing O! Now, wouldn't it be perfect if some talent scout had been watching? Nah, too Hollywood, right?

But, I was rich in so many other ways.

After we exited the café, Aer threw her arms around me without a second thought. Oh God, I could have held her forever. As long as she embraced me tightly, I would cling to her twice as long. I sighed against her hair.

"That was so beautiful, Demyx!" she murmured happily against my shoulder, sounding near tears. "I—I didn't know how deep your feelings were. After Zack..."

"There is such a thing as someone loving you for who you are," I told her before blushing at what I just said.

I said I loved her. Oh damn, what would she say now? Well, bye, Dem, this is getting too serious? I gulped loudly this time.

She pulled my head down for a kiss instead of laughing at me. Why would she if she liked my company?

"I love you, too. You have no idea. I...I might have loved you since I first saw you."

I smiled against her lips. "You're cliché. But, I love that about you."

A make-out session commenced. It was unforgettably sweet.

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**A/N: I don't think I'm much in the way of a songwriter. But, I tried my best! And anyway, the only reason why Demyx said he wasn't sure if true love was about death or not was because I watched just that example on TV. When there's a couple, and one of them dies. I'm tired of that crap. It's been done to death since Titanic, and I guess even more so starting with Romeo and Juliet. I just don't think true love has to involve death. It makes me feel less hopeful that way if it turned out to be true.**

**But, enough with my ranting. Please review! XD I probably won't get to respond to them til after my vacation anyway.**


	12. That Little Ole Fortune Cookie

**A/N: Well, that zoo in Omaha was great. Henry Doorly, great zoo. It seems to be the only adjective in my head right now-great, I mean. Oh well, here's the very last chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own KH.**

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**Chapter 12: That Little Ole Fortune Cookie**

A year passed without me really realizing it, since that's what the calendar does to you every year. You're flipping pages faster than you assumed you would. So, Aer and I managed to get a whole lot more serious after that acoustic performance of my life. We went out once a week if not more often. Pretty soon, my cellphone bill had gone way up, which was probably what I deserved. That gave me a reality check to the point I would come over to her apartment to talk to her. What a way to save money, huh? But hey, holding a secretarial position didn't offer a whole lot of dough, so I did have to penny pinch quite a bit to get by. That's what happens when you're in your early twenties.

I introduced Aerith to my friends and family later that summer, and like I knew they would, they all loved her. They couldn't find one fault to pick with her, not even my best friend Axel, the resident cynic. Speaking of which, he was getting along a lot better than he used to. He had been clean and sober for about two months when we went to see him. Despite his agonizing court date that wound up telling him that he had to attend AA meetings, he knew that it would pay off in the long run. Though the carting around, he told me dryly, definitely wasn't worth it. He did have a job, though, so he would save up for a car.

From what I understood from Roxas, he was getting fairly serious with his girlfriend, too. So, I guess love was all around. As for Mom and Namine, they treated Aer to a shopping trip at a nearby bigger city at one point during her visit. Typical. I never understood why female bonding equals shopping, so I've blamed it on pure estrogen.

Overall, the year had been great, one of the best ones of my life. I even marked the calendar on the day of the one-year anniversary that we met at that hospital where she still worked. It might have been under amusing circumstances, but look how well that turned out for us? I actually got a girlfriend out of that hospital trip. Fate works in mysterious ways.

Then, we exchanged Christmas gifts later that year, the best ones that we could afford. It was obvious that her job paid better than mine, let's just say that for a fact. And when spring came, she stocked up on flower seeds again, as was her way. Adding to the rooftop garden was always her main priority around that time. Speaking of which, I wondered when we would ever go to Michigan so I could meet her family. Then again, Michigan was way, way further away than small town New York state, so we would have to see when we could go out together. Probably on a weekend, because that was usually a good time. In the meantime, I think I planned to take the next step.

In our relationship, I mean, I would do something that I had thought over for a while now. I needed to confide in my best friend for this one. Considering I hadn't touched my cellphone in a couple of months or so, I figured it would be all right to call up Axel. Next time, I would probably call Roxas, since I obviously didn't do that enough. I couldn't show favoritism in front of my two closest friends, after all. I smiled once I heard him pick up.

"You know you're interrupting my rousing game of _Halo_, don't you?"

Oh, how typical of Axe to complain about missing out on video games.

He had the day off from college, so that was his preferred hobby of choice. Wow, we were all so immature.

I put the TV on mute. "Why are you still obsessed with that game? Personally, mine died ages ago...when I started getting a life."

"Ouch, man. But, you do know I am without a car right now. I got an excuse. A valid one, if you ask me."

"Yeah, yeah, don't chew me out." I chuckled. "But, hey, I was thinking about my girlfriend Aerith."

"Oh yeah, she was nice."

"I'm thinking about..." Then, I whispered my intentions.

Axel must have paused his game, because I stopped hearing obnoxiously loud sound effects from the video game. He must have checked to make sure he heard right. Yeah, I couldn't believe I was willing to follow through with my plan either. But, it had been long enough, a reasonable time. If anything, I picked the opportune moment.

"Seriously, dude? Guess I'll have to get used to her, huh?"

I drawled out, "Yep, but that shouldn't be a problem, should it?"

"Hell no. She is all right, believe me. Good luck on what you're gonna do there."

"Hopefully, I won't need it. So, how've you been?"

In a more serious, sincere tone, Axel told me, "Way better than I used to, Dem. I feel free. Then again, I'd been taking my heavy drinking way too lightly before. I should have realized that it was serious. But, ya know, life is going great now."

I nodded, getting up to move over to the fridge. "Good."

"And I met—well, I guess, _found_—somebody."

"Great!" I grinned. "Are you going out with her?"

"Not yet, but I plan to. If I can do it, you can do it."

Hm, Pepsi or Coke? Oh heck, I would grab a Pepsi, goes down the throat more smoothly.

As I cradled the cellphone right between my shoulder and ear, I popped the tab open. "My situation is kinda different. But, yeah, I'm pretty sure I can. Glad you're doing well, Axe."

"You too...to say the least."

"Later."

"Bye."

OK, that was positive feedback. No "dude, I'm not sure about this" kind of advice. Axel basically told me to go for it, and I would due to the plenty of money I had saved up. Not to mention I had a plan in mind.

* * *

"K, Pence, I got a request for you," I told my slightly younger friend as I stepped right up to the counter. Normally, I doubted the Changs took requests like this if at all. I made sure that I would be original and unique in doing this and be that one-of-a-kind guy whom Aerith had fallen in love with. I would have used my guitar Ferris to help me out with my big moment, but I'd seen it already done in a movie. There was no way I would imitate something I'd seen off TV. To be inventive, I had had to come up with a new way on how to go about this.

"What is it, Demyx?" Pence asked, genuinely curious.

Since I don't feel like giving away what happened in my amazing story, I did pull out a certain thing from my hoodie pocket. The loose bagginess of a pocket like that might not have been the most advisable place for this important thing, but it was still there. I took it out of its container, and Pence's brows furrowed questionably.

He even said, "This is gonna be an odd request."

"Yeah," I responded eagerly, feeling like a hyper, excited little kid who found out he was going to the zoo. This was exhilarating yet nerve-wracking all at once.

I tacked onto my comment by saying, "But, I really wanted to be original. Besides, Aerith is waiting for me at one of the tables. I told her that I felt like chatting with you. Anyway, um, would you put it in a fortune cookie?"

Pence's eyes got big, but he did laugh slightly. "Holy crap, dude, you are serious! I think we have the perfect fortune to go along with it, too. In fact, I know we do."

"Great!" I grinned. "So, this isn't completely weird, is it?"

"Nah, not really. It's original all right. Your girlfriend is lucky."

"She sure is." I gave him the thing. "Protect it with your life."

When I returned to the same, exact table where Aerith and I had sat on our first date, I heard her humming softly to herself. It was a pleasant sound to hear, especially since she had that soft, gentle voice. I slid into my chair gracefully for once. It was kinda weird. I hadn't been overly klutzy after the hospital visit. Love was the best kind of good karma. Maybe it could cure all ills. Right, meanwhile, Aer appeared to come back down to Earth once she saw me.

"What did you two talk about?" She tried to play detective.

I drummed on the table with my chopsticks. "Eh, nothing much other than when the weather is ever gonna improve."

It had been raining quite a bit during these past two weeks until it got annoying. I sang "Here Comes the Sun" in the hopes that the sun would actually show up while I sang. No such luck. I had to lie to Aer, though, so that the surprise I would give her would be even more meaningful. I was psyched yet my palms had sweat all over them. It was practically a relief that we got our meals, because the pressure of waiting was sort of getting to me. It usually does when I have to wait for something this big.

"I ordered the same thing I ordered on our first date. But, I _am _the sappy, sentimental type."

"You're very big on details," Aerith remarked, amused.

"Sure am."

I couldn't wait until she finished the rest of her meal and that the only thing left would be the fortune cookie. My fate rested in that triangular-ish cookie, that insignificant yet major thing. It could make or break our relationship. It could make or break me.

Why was I worrying? I was normally a cool, calm guy strumming on his acoustic and sometimes singing Beatles songs.

I don't even remember what our conversation was, because I was so wrapped up in my own anxieties. Then, I noticed her reaching for her fortune cookie. What if she swallowed the ring or something? I didn't want this extra-special date to end in a trip to the ER.

"I wouldn't eat that yet if I were you," I nearly shouted since I wanted each and every detail of this moment to be perfect.

A confused look was on her face. "Why not?"

"Because...of the message in there. Yeah, don't you want to read your fortune? I had Pence personalize it. I doubt they actually had that fortune in copies, like he claims they did. I guess it's the element of surprise thing."

I must have put up a fairly convincing argument, because Aer said, "OK," and poked her fingernail through the wafer to get the piece of paper out. Good thing she opened fortune cookies like that, or else she would have found the Thing too soon.

" 'Your life will be full of more reward in the near future'," she read out loud before squinting suspiciously. "That's not very fortune cookie."

"I know that, but you gotta listen to me." I clasped her hands.

She smiled shyly and looked willing to listen, judging by her dreamy green eyes fastening onto me. Great, here came the big speech, the one every guy had to make. Well, not every guy, but a lot of guys in the whole world anyway. This was an everyday occurrence yet not to me.

This would change my life in one way or another.

"Aer," I began, squeezing her hands gently. "We've been together for a while now. It might not be long enough by some standards, but I know how strong my feelings for you are. From the moment I was a big klutz in front of your workplace or near it anyway, I had no idea how much my life would change. Like, seriously, a broken arm and a concussion leading to this?"

Aer laughed and nodded her agreement about my question, not expecting the date or what happened after that, apparently. I don't think anyone could have predicted it, to be honest. It was something that popped out of the blue, leading to something wonderful and pure. And even if it came on the heels of her monumentally horrible break-up, it still turned out awesome. We hadn't even fought that much, thank God.

"But, it all turned out great in the long run, didn't it?" I inquired rhetorically, seriously. She nodded again. "Then, well, I just want to tell you how much I love you, how much I'll always love you."

Wow, that speech was worded better than I thought it would be, for me just winging it. When you fall in love with someone, words can come out right for a change. Granted, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it does, it's so ideal. You're comfortable around someone else to the point that you share your thoughts and feelings with them. You wear your heart on your sleeve, and it pays off for the most part.

"You can open the rest of that cookie now," I told her softly.

Confused, she followed my instruction nonetheless and cracked the rest of the fortune cookie all the way open.

In case you didn't figure it out by now, it was an engagement ring that had lain inside it. Pretty creative way to propose, don't you think?

As surprised as I assumed she would be, Aerith clapped her hand over her mouth. Tears sprang to her eyes instantly. Since I couldn't see her mouth, I worried that she was gonna turn me down.

"Are you OK? Are you sad?"

She laughed through her tears. "No, no way. Yes! My answer is yes!"

Oh, so she wasn't sad and...accepted me to be her husband! That was so awesome! I was relieved that I didn't cry, even though I swore I'd been about to. I'm still a guy, you know.

I grinned. "I love you."

She pressed her lips to mine. "You know I do, too."

When Pence walked up to a table to clear it, I gave him the thumbs-up to let him know that the plan had gone off without a hitch. He just gave me a smile and a nod and walked off carrying the dishes. Oh man, I couldn't believe I would get married for sure in the near future.

Yep, this was the perfect night, and I ate my egg rolls absentmindedly after I made my proposal. How could I have focused on something as no big deal as that?

"You were fairly creative with that ring in the fortune cookie," Aer complimented. "I don't think I've ever heard of a proposal quite like this. But, it was a great idea. Go back to the place where we had our first date. It's sweet."

I winked at her. "Least I could do. You seriously made my night."

She wiped away what remained of her tears of joy on the back of her hand. "You made mine. You made my life, really. Two years ago, I never thought I would _date _anyone again, much less be engaged."

"It was fate," I sighed. "Fate can be so convenient."

So it could be. I walked her home that night, admiring the way that ring shone on her finger. It wasn't too many karats due to affordability, but it was enough so that it could be noticed. We held each other for a long time, kissed passionately, and went our separate ways. I picked up my cellphone at home to call another special lady in my life.

"Hey, Mom," I said, trying to keep my cool. "Guess what?"

* * *

**A/N: I thought this would be a good end to the story, with Demyx starting to call his mom to tell her the news. I don't know why, but it just felt right. As for the engagement scene, I wanted it to be...well, unconventional. XD Yeah, I know I didn't specify who Axel met, but it actually doesn't matter to the story overall. So, I guess it's just some unnamed chick. I don't know. I just got back from vacation, so I'm a little worn out.**

**Hopefully, this was worth the wait for you guys. And yeah, this is THE FINAL chapter, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as I've enjoyed writing it. Later!**


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